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Sophie's Choice

Sophie's Choice

1982
Romance, Drama
2h 30m
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)
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Sophie's Choice

1982
Romance, Drama
2h 30m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 60.82% from 1105 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(1105)
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Rated 27 Aug 2009
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.
Rated 19 Oct 2013
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.
Rated 22 Apr 2012
60
36th
An incredibly moving short film. Although for some reason the version I watched had a 100 minute introduction attached to it.
Rated 29 Jul 2009
88
85th
Still, arguably, the greatest performance ever given by an actress.
Rated 05 Apr 2010
75
49th
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.
Rated 03 Mar 2011
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.
Rated 29 Oct 2012
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.
Rated 20 Feb 2007
70
51st
The film itself may have many flaws, but none of them is Meryl Streep in a performance that largely lives up to its reputation. She creates a human character out of facial expressions and speech deliveries. Who cares about the rest of the movie. She's that rare of example of a master class performance.
Rated 26 Feb 2007
88
98th
The prime example of why Streep is considered to be one of the greatest actress of all time. Who cares that it's 150 minutes long?
Rated 29 Sep 2007
90
95th
Wow...Meryl. Wow.
Rated 18 Aug 2008
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.
Rated 09 May 2011
95
75th
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!
Rated 13 Jul 2013
75
43rd
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.
Rated 28 Apr 2015
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.
Rated 19 Nov 2016
85
94th
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.
Rated 09 Apr 2021
82
62nd
Meryl Streep.
Rated 28 May 2022
50
51st
okay movie
Rated 19 Jun 2022
78
66th
Well done depressing Holocaust movie focusing mostly on the period immediately after the war and the story of a survivor. Streep's performance is otherworldly, one of the best I've seen from any actress, and really elevates what might otherwise be just an okay movie. I've seen good Streep performances before but never really totally got the hype, but this role justifies it. Kline is also outstanding.
Rated 16 Jan 2007
60
60th
hard choise
Rated 14 Apr 2007
100
95th
Looks like a boring costume drama, then it slowly dawns on you that it's anything but that
Rated 04 Nov 2008
90
65th
The best interpretation of all time for Meryl Streep.
Rated 11 May 2009
90
72nd
Tremendous performance by Streep. A wonderful movie with the exception being the annoying character played by MacNicol.
Rated 13 Sep 2009
82
89th
I heart Meryl.
Rated 29 Jan 2010
85
66th
Good film with great performances from Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline.
Rated 06 Feb 2010
60
26th
For most of its duration, the movie is an unfocussed, boring mess. It is when Sophie finally reveals her past that the film's real strength gets to shine through - Meryl Streep's acting abilities.
Rated 10 Feb 2010
88
95th
this is a tremendous film, fantastic acting all around, an amazingly capturing story and the director is just the cherry on top. i simply cant believe that streep, kline, and macnicol could carry out their roles in such an amazing manner. the melding of the past life of sophie and her current life in the eyes of macnicol simply blew me away.
Rated 16 Jul 2010
84
52nd
Meryl Streep is perfection.
Rated 23 Mar 2011
70
38th
The best parts were the extended WWII concentration camp scenes. The actual "Choice" scene is amazing and devastating. The rest of it is a little too sentimental for my tastes. Not sure what to make of Streep's performance... it is impressive, but sometimes the accent was a bit overemphasized.
Rated 16 Jan 2012
65
54th
Meryl Streep was brilliant as usual and was completely convincing as a Pole. Kevin Kline was also really good. It was decent overall, but perhaps a little too much of an Oscar-type film for me.
Rated 10 Feb 2012
85
73rd
An intense film with Meryl Streep showing the initial power of her amazing career.
Rated 01 Aug 2012
80
88th
I don't think I can say I've ever seen better acting. Well done Meryl Streep! I wasn't expecting such a great 'dark comedy', 'cause that's what Kevin Kline's character makes it. The only thing wrong with the movie is Peter MacNicol. Tom Hanks should have had his role and the movie would have been perfect. The 'Choice' you're waiting for the entire movie arrives too late and with too little impact because too many horrible things have happened already plus it arrives at the end.
Rated 17 Jan 2013
65
38th
Pakula had a great passion for directing actors, and any performer who worked with him will tell you that he was one of the best. And so what we wind up with here is a picture that thrives on such success from the main trio of actors, but the rest of the film is not up to snuff. It doesn't help that the protagonist is not in fact Sophie, and that one has to endure this insufferable old guy narration from the main dude (and one of my least favorite archetypes), an aspiring writer. Streep's great.
Rated 09 Feb 2013
62
39th
The flashback scenes were great, but everything involving Peter MacNicol was pretty bad. Really not a great movie at all, but Streep's performance is everything it's cracked up to be and the camp scenes are good to see for their cultural relevance.
Rated 01 Jul 2014
90
92nd
:'(
Rated 09 Feb 2015
50
29th
This is an odd production. Pakula takes his time with the story and the slow pace gives us time to see relationships develop. However, that's not what the film is about! Such a pondering, meandering script does not suit such a sensitive topic.
Rated 13 Sep 2015
80
83rd
Streep earns her 5 star reputation here. She feels totally authentic.
Rated 27 Nov 2015
80
64th
Streep's performance here is as good as they say it is. Kline is also great. The photography is good as well, and it's overall a very well done film.
Rated 07 Jun 2016
4
74th
A measured film which organically unfolds into something devastating.
Rated 12 Jun 2016
26
16th
The story is very strong -- people too easily jump at what they think Sophie's Choice is, when actually we should ask ourselves which choice is the one in the title. But I didn't care for it as a film. There is too much ac-TOR-ing.
Rated 02 Mar 2017
62
66th
Would be a lot better without the MacNicol character.
Rated 12 Mar 2017
67
40th
Kline lit up the scene's undulating between charming eccentricities and foul, unquenchable jealousy. He was particularly immersive when brooding about, sweat covered, spewing some of the ugliest on screen vitriol I've heard in a while. Streep impresses with her take on the Polish accent & make-up free, concentration camp depiction, in fact the acting & dialogue overall is the highlight here.
Rated 16 Apr 2017
97
95th
A
Rated 23 Oct 2017
60
26th
Rvw. She was mostly so believably foreign. Kevin's character i liked more most of the time, minus the random temper and movie-forced-endingish like rebel. Her only bad acting was before she made the choice, but not after. I woulda fell in love with her too lol and she was never my type
Rated 16 Jan 2018
65
2nd
No offense, Meryl Streep performance is undeniably great. But the more I think about the movie, the less I like. Maybe holocaust is no longer promising nowadays, maybe I've seen a lot better films with the same theme. Seriously, it is way to long, and all I can remember is the shopie's choosing scene. The other is meryl streep drinking, and crying, and crying. No offense.
Rated 24 Jul 2018
100
97th
WOW! Took me 36 years to get to this one, but I'm so glad I finally did. I've considered Meryl Streep the greatest living actress and that has been BEFORE seeing this role, which is the best of all (to me). Flawless performance in a great drama.
Rated 25 Oct 2018
55
44th
I really liked Cavani's "The Night Porter", also a post-war Holocaust-themed melodrama, because it was just so brazen. "Sophie's Choice" is milder and more drab, which somehow makes it less self-conscious and so much more distasteful. Streep's complex performance establishes her as one of the hardest-working actors of her generation, though, speaking two foreign languages fluently and only her native English with a heavy accent.
Rated 28 Nov 2018
76
54th
The incredible performance by Meryl Streep alone makes this worth watching, and her male co-stars do not disappoint, either. It's a long film, and it gets quite dark and sad at times, but it never felt like a slog.
Rated 19 Nov 2020
70
69th
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc_sQ9KrlE4
Rated 15 Jul 2022
9
86th
Streep is unearthly.
Rated 11 Dec 2022
81
68th
A Escolha de Sofia estreava há 40 anos no Canadá. Fiquei surpreendida com o tanto de gente que desgosta desse filme pelos motivos mais díspares, eu gosto, acho um drama bem sólido, um dos melhores momentos do Pakula, mas a bem da verdade a gente sabe que quem carrega isso aqui nas costas é a Streep, só ela para ter tirado o Oscar das mãos da Jessica Lange por Francês. Blu-ray Universal.
Rated 14 Apr 2023
75
61st
Streep is astounding and the direction is superb. The threesome is a solid and hair-raising base for any story. But something is off. It's forgivable that the acting by Kline and Macnicol gets dwarved by Streep. But then this lame 'paranoid schizofrenia' bookwisdom enters. Yes: what lies between the lines is that the author was having a good time writing about crazy acting people but then got stuck and tried to smart his way out with psychological/psychiatric twists and justifications. Busted!
Rated 23 Sep 2023
20
12th
Sooooooo slooooooow! It felt like we just binged a whole season of a really boring show. More than illluminating, it felt exploitative of the Holocaust. If you know what Sophie's Choice is, then the movie loses all dramatic impact and is a complete waste of time.
Rated 10 Feb 2024
70
59th
I really wanted it to be better
Rated 02 Mar 2024
60
35th
Streep could have delivered all her lines in a dark closet and still have been the best thing about this movie. All the themes (including the clearly autobiographical poor-virgin-writer-goes-to-big-city) don't quite coalesce into something greater, making this feel a lot longer than it really is. Fav scene: the musical conductor.

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