Home > Drama >

Sophie's Choice

Watch Now

Sophie's Choice (1982)

December. 08,1982
|
7.5
|
R
| Drama Romance War
Watch Now

Stingo, a young writer, moves to Brooklyn in 1947 to begin work on his first novel. As he becomes friendly with Sophie and her lover Nathan, he learns that she is a Holocaust survivor. Flashbacks reveal her harrowing story, from pre-war prosperity to Auschwitz. In the present, Sophie and Nathan's relationship increasingly unravels as Stingo grows closer to Sophie and Nathan's fragile mental state becomes ever more apparent.

...

Watch Trailer

Cast

Similar titles

Reviews

BallWubba
1982/12/08

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

More
FirstWitch
1982/12/09

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

More
Bea Swanson
1982/12/10

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

More
Keeley Coleman
1982/12/11

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

More
merelyaninnuendo
1982/12/12

Sophie's ChoiceSophie's Choice has a lot to offer; some good conversations, intense scenes, brilliant performance and a good old concept, but isn't enough for its runtime as it lacks gripping screenplay, vigorous tone and a thread to hold on for the audience. Meryl Streep is phenomenal in playing a part where the character is more human than ever i.e. a flawed character that isn't forcefully justified.

More
oOoBarracuda
1982/12/13

Typically, if a film takes me more than two viewings to get through, I give up on it. Having never been too enamored with Meryl Streep, at least not to the level that most are, I decided to stick with Sophie's Choice, through the multiple viewings it took for me to eventually be able to finish it. The 1982 film by Alan J. Pakula is the one I've heard continuously referenced on the rare occasion I admit to not being a fan of Meryl Streep. I was looking forward to seeing a facet of Streep's that I hadn't before seen. I do find Meryl Streep to be a fine actor, that must be noted, although I have never been taken with her to the degree of most others. Starring along with Streep, Kevin Kline, and Peter MacNicol, Sophie's Choice weaves together the life of a young writer into the lives of his new upstairs neighbors of which he soon learns harbor deep life-changing secrets.Stingo (Peter MacNicol), an American writer from the south, travels to a place as strange as Brooklyn just after WWII. He is looking for a quiet place to work on his next novel and takes residence at a humble pink apartment building. On one of his first nights in the apartment, Stingo hears a violent fight break out between his upstairs neighbors Sophie (Meryl Streep) and Nathan (Kevin Kline). When the fight comes into the hallway, Stingo interjects himself in hopes to prevent any violent escalation. He is confronted by Nathan who pokes fun at Stingo's accent in a frightening and overbearing way before leaving the apartment. Stingo takes the time to tend to Sophie, worried and taken aback by their conflict he begins to learn a great deal about the dynamic between the two. The next morning, Nathan apologizes to Stingo and is invited into the lives of Sophie and Nathan. The more he learns about the two the more he understands that they have a union that is not the typical happy cohabitation unit he is used to. Stingo eventually learns that Sophie, a Catholic, is a survivor of the concentration camps of WWII. Nathan is an American Jewish man who is absolutely obsessed with the holocaust and views Sophie as some kind of a trophy of his passions. Nathan is incredibly erratic and is completely unpredictable in behavior, often leaving Sophie to her own devices for an undetermined amount of time. Sophie refuses to leave Nathan, however, completely dependent upon him. On one private night, Stingo learns just how emotionally damaged Sophie is when he learns just how gut-wrenching her life through WWII was.Meryl Streep gives a powerful performance in Sophie's Choice. No one who sees this film will ever forget "that scene" in which we see her make the titular choice. I am a huge fan of Kevin Kline, and he played his unpredictably unbalanced role incredibly well, and was the standout, for me. The part of Stingo, played by Peter MacNicol, never resonated with me and felt completely miscast. The film had an awful pace, building character development only to have it come together in the last 25 minutes of the film. If I invest over two hours in character development, I really don't want a film that I could have watched the last 25 minutes of and been just as wise to it. There was no payoff to the investment one puts into this film that makes it worth a 2.5 hour watch time. I have no problem with long films, but a well-done long film makes the time you put into it worth it. Sophie's Choice is a film that you can watch one scene from "that scene" and be able to successfully fill in the blanks of the rest of the film. This film, in no way, endears me anymore to Meryl Streep; I much prefer her in Kramer vs. Kramer, or even The Bridges of Madison County, although I suppose I won't give up on Streep just yet.

More
SnoopyStyle
1982/12/14

It's 1947. Stingo (Peter MacNicol) moves from the south to Brooklyn trying to be a writer. Sophie Zawistowski (Meryl Streep) and Nathan Landau (Kevin Kline) are his amorous volatile couple and upstairs neighbors. She's Polish Catholic having survived Auschwitz and haunted by a heart-breaking secret. He works at Pfizer and is obsessed with the Nazis. The movie has long flashbacks that reveal Sophie's past and secrets.It's a very slow moving movie at times. It meanders and teases for the first hour. It can get tedious at times. There are some interesting bits like Dickens and Leslie Lapidus. The three actors are superb but they can only hint at the final explosive reveal. The reveals are compelling bits of the puzzle. Streep is impeccable transitioning between the various languages. Kline does a good deteriorating personality. MacNicol gives a solid performance to give the audience a voice. Of course, the climatic scene is heart wrenching iconic cinematic history. The piercing girl's scream is devastating and it shows on Streep's face.

More
AaronCapenBanner
1982/12/15

Based on William Styron's novel, this Alan J. Pakula directed adaptation stars Meryl Streep as Sophie, a Polish refugee and concentration camp survivor haunted by those painful memories; Kevin Kline plays Nathan, a Jewish man who loves Sophie, and is obsessed with the Holocaust and emotionally erratic, veering from affectionate to combative; Peter MacNicol plays Stingo, a young American writer who befriends them both, and ultimately tells their story, as he acts as the film's narrator as the three of them share a boarding house, and Stingo will learn Sophie's terrible "choice" that has haunted her for years...Meryl Streep is magnificent in her Academy Award winning performance, portraying the haunted guilt and heartbreak of that impossible choice made many years ago. Nathan's craziness does grate on the viewer after awhile, and film is a bit long, but so powerfully acted and told that it is well worth seeing regardless of these quibbles.

More