Sophie's Choice (1982)

Sophie is the survivor of Nazi concentration camps, who has found a reason to live in Nathan, a sparkling if unsteady American Jew obsessed with the Holocaust (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Alan J. Pakula
Written By: Alan J. Pakula, William Styron
Starring: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Josef Sommer, Peter MacNicol, Josh Mostel, John Rothman, Robin Bartlett, Eugene Lipinski, Rita Karin, Stephen D. Newman, Greta Turken
Country: USA
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Sophie's Choice belongs to 33 collections
1. Empire's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time (public: Ross - 36 stars)
2. AFI 100 (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 27 stars)
3. Female protagonist (collaborative: moderated by djross - 25 stars)
4. Academy Award - Oscar - ALL Best Picture, Directing, Acting & Screenplay Nominees (collaborative - 22 stars)
5. Based on a Book (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 21 stars)
6. World War 2 (collaborative: moderated by td888 - 16 stars)
7. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)
8. Oscar: Best Actress (collaborative: moderated by kangadoodoo - 10 stars)
9. Holocaust (collaborative: moderated by Moribunny - 7 stars)
10. Based On Novel (collaborative: moderated by tathiel - 7 stars)
11. David Thomson's 1000 Films (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 7 stars)
12. List: Taschen (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 6 stars)
13. Anti-war (collaborative - 6 stars)
14. Best by different standards (public: sesito71 - 6 stars)
15. Tearjerkers (collaborative: moderated by cambel - 3 stars)
16. Masters of Light: Modern Cinematography (collaborative: moderated by DeadFox - 3 stars)
17. Terrific 'Dialogue-Heavy' Films (public: nicolino - 3 stars)
18. Meryl Streep's Oscar Nominations (collaborative: moderated by CCLZA - 2 stars)
19. mwgerb's Netflix Instant Queue (public: mwgerb - 2 stars)
20. Netflix instant LATAM (collaborative: moderated by Roman_Herbom - 1 star)
21. Photographed by Nestor Almendros (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 1 star)
22. Woman Protagonist (public: shalev - 1 star)
23. Roger Ebert's Top 10 Films of 1982 (collaborative)
24. National Society of Film Critics: Best Actress (collaborative: moderated by CCLZA)
25. Academy Award-winning Actors and Actresses (collaborative: moderated by gunhaver)
26. New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (collaborative: moderated by CCLZA)
27. Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress (collaborative: moderated by CCLZA)
28. Marvin Hamlisch (composer) (collaborative: moderated by djross)
29. Great dramatic films set in World War 2 Europe (collaborative: moderated by m3tan)
30. Nepogledano (public: aney)
31. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 28 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
32. Netflix List (public: Walser14)
33. Streaming List (public: xreleased)
Browse the full list of collections
Stars | User | Rating | |
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PeaceAnarchy | 77 51st |
This is really two films that dovetail into each other for a really strong finale. While the subject matter is almost constantly threatening to turn the film into an overblown manipulative melodrama things stay relatively subdued and there's a schizophrenic mix of lightness and emotional horror that is pretty effective. I was at times uninterested in what was going on and felt some trimming would have helped, but for the most part I was satisfied and impressed.
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XakkMaster | 85 76th |
Meryl Streep's performance is sheer perfection and Kevin Kline is amazing as well. With lesser actors, 3/4 of this movie could have been uninteresting, but these two simply capture your attention and sympathy. The final act is the strongest, with emotional highs and lows coming quickly and packing significant punches. The film handles the subjects of mental health, depression, and grief quite well and aptly uses Stingo as a neutral control for his live-wire counterparts. Very worthwhile viewing.
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Derekstar | 60 36th |
An incredibly moving short film. Although for some reason the version I watched had a 100 minute introduction attached to it.
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2 | hank | 75 49th |
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Not a bad film, but really really drawn out, and you spend the whole time wondering wtf the choice is. And when you see the choice, you're like, "OK that's deep, but I want my 2 hours back." Could be cut down to about 10 minutes.
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Barthalen | 71 59th |
I blame pop culture for me seeing this. There's only so much "That's a real Sophie's choice!" you can take from series and other films before caving in and screaming "Allright! I'll watch the damn thing already!". Well, I'm sort of glad I did. Overlong and sappy at points, but Streep's performance is absolutely amazing and her flashbacks are soul-crushing. But any scene without her is a bit of a slog.
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Rufam | 75 72nd |
"Sophie's Choice" is a quiet and intelligent drama that, frankly, would have probably been a gigantic bore weren't it for the tremendous performances. Streep, in one of the best performances I have ever seen, fully transforms herself into her character. Kline, inevitably overshadowed by Her Majesty, also gives a very strong performance. It's just that the whole thing is unjustifiably long -it is exhausting to wait for the "choice" of the title, that doesn't arrive until the very final minutes.
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wayofthegun | 100 97th |
Sophie's Choice contains the career-defining performance from Meryl Streep and also introduces Kevin Kline as a force to be reckoned with in movie-making. This could have easily devolved into sappy melodrama, but it is expertly crafted and played out.
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tonydal | 90 94th |
Wow...Meryl. Wow.
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KasperL | 85 93rd |
What a performance!! Streep's second Oscar is completely deserved, that's for sure. And Kline is terrific too! The now renowned climax and the concentration camp scenes leading up to it actually only take up a small part of the film which despite its length flew by for me thanks to a colorful and very engaging love triangle.
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Vandelay1 | 50 51st |
okay movie
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Anselmi86 | 88 85th |
Still, arguably, the greatest performance ever given by an actress.
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1 | nicanick | 95 75th |
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Incredible acting. Meryl Streep is perfect. I am German, and her German accent is so incredible! I have never heard an American speak such a perfect German before! The story is just overwhelmingly touching and probably the most dramatic one I have ever seen. The way the story is told (the author compared it to peeling an onion) is very interesting and adds greatly to the story. Wooooooow!
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1 | DougieD | 75 43rd |
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An above average holocaust drama that is carried by Meryl Streep's tour-de-force performance. Take away her performance and the film would fall apart. The concentration camp scenes are very well done and provide the picture with some emotional weight, but the NYC love triangle drags and is choppily edited.
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VengefulKBM | 75 63rd |
Tough one to rank. The acting is all top-notch, with Streep in particular giving one of the greatest performances ever put on film. It takes a bit too long to get going, though, and some of the Peter MacNicol voice-over is far too on-the-nose (I think the whole thing would have been stronger with no voice-over at all outside of Sophie's flashbacks). I think if the first ninety minutes had been significantly edited down, this would have gone down as one of the finer Holocaust related dramas.
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Average Percentile 61.23% from 1069 Ratings | ![]() |