Sophie's Choice (1982) User Reviews (215)

Shattering, and still soaring

[atlihafsteinsson · 8/10 · 17 July 2013]

Sophie's Choice is one of those films I always meant to watch, and finally got the chance. It is best to go into it with as little idea as to what it's about as possible, as it's a slow film with a lot of layers that get peeled off one by one. A young would-be-author from the South moves to Brooklyn and befriends his neighbors, the couple Nathan and Sophie. All three hit it off, but Nathan's bipolar tendencies do puncture their friendship at times. Sophie, however, is a calm soul as kind as she is tortured by her past in Auschwitz. As the author, Stingo, gets to know them better, he is also taken deeper and deeper into Sophie's past, where a hidden pain resides.

Sophie's Choice brilliantly captures two polar opposite worlds. The colourful and tranquil Brooklyn is contrasted strikingly by a late 1930s Poland occupied by Nazis, where the colour drains so much out of the film that any further and it would be black-and-white. The present in Brooklyn is a good haven to have and catch our breath between glimpses into Sophie's horrible past.

At the end of the day, in spite of the emotionally shattering story, Sophie's Choice is a story about hope and redemption. The performances certainly helped. Peter MacNicol and Kevin Kline are both wonderful as polar opposite personalities, united by a common love for literature.

But Meryl Streep is utterly mesmerizing as Sophie. It's not for no reason that this was one of those Oscar-nominated performances of hers that gave that extra edge and got her the statue. All of Sophie's mannerisms, her accent, her speaking German and Polish, her searching for words in English to express what she wants to say, her restrained kindness, her pain; none of it overdone. The director even trusted Streep enough to take long shots with her as she gets into deep characterization. This is quite simply one of the finest female performances in cinema.

I did fear, throughout the film, what exactly Sophie's choice was, and I was right, for it is a scene that crushes your heart. But the film comes together in the end and ends in an emotionally satisfying way in spite of everything. Steel yourself for an emotional journey and give Sophie's Choice a view, it's a film as uplifting as it is depressing, and unmissable for cinema buffs.

Meryl Streep raises the bar

[marissas75 · 8/10 · 8 July 2006]

After enjoying Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline in the recent ensemble comedy "A Prairie Home Companion," it was great to see their dramatic performances in "Sophie's Choice," the movie that made them famous. Here, they play Sophie and Nathan, a volatile young couple living in a Brooklyn boardinghouse in the summer of 1947. Their story, and eventually the story of the Polish Sophie's time in a concentration camp during World War II, is presented through the eyes of Stingo (Peter MacNichol), their young Southern neighbor.

Though other characters appear, especially during the flashbacks, "Sophie's Choice" is largely a three-person drama that relies on subtle interactions. Meryl Streep can always be counted on to give a nuanced performance, but here, especially, she raises the bar. Speaking three languages (including a very realistic portrayal of how foreigners can hesitate and hunt for words when speaking English), going from a haggard Auschwitz inmate to a pretty "blooming rose," consumed by guilt even during the madcap or romantic moments she shares with Nathan, she gives a brilliant performance of a very complex character. Her big scenes with Nazi officers are of course powerful, but I was equally struck by smaller moments: the heartbreaking little flashes of emotion that reveal Sophie's postwar wounds, or the extraordinary conversation she has with a Nazi's daughter.

Kline throws himself into the role of the "fatally glamorous" Nathan and also displays impressive range: he goes from charming to menacing. MacNichol is not up to these (admittedly high) standards. He can play the wide-eyed innocent, but he always seems somewhat thick-headed and lacking in passion. The movie would be more effective if Stingo seemed more truly changed by his experiences with Sophie and Nathan.

Despite Stingo's weakness as a character, I liked the unusual structure that reveals Sophie's story gradually, in flashbacks that draw closer and closer to the ultimate horror. The movie is nicely shot and some of the Brooklyn scenes look as though they actually could have come from a 1940s movie. But no director from the 1940s would have confronted the brutalities of the Holocaust so directly, and few actresses from any era could have given a performance like Streep's.

The definitive Meryl Streep

[MyDarkStar · 8/10 · 2 March 2002]

Without a doubt, Meryl Streep delivers the Greatest Performance By An Actress EVER - period.

The performance is totally naked, where you can almost feel her sorrow come right out of the screen. For all of the heart wrenching scenes in this movie, you never once feel as though Streep is going over-the-top. That says alot for someone who spends just about half of the time in her scenes with a tear in her eye. Everything about her performance just seems so effortless and natural. This especially shows when she is speaking German flawlessly, or English with a very convincing Polish accent.

The fact that Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol are not completely lost in this movie says alot for their performances. Kline himself delivers a great performance of a man suffering from delusions and bi-polar syndrome. It is one of his greatest performances as well. Peter MacNicol plays the role of a character who pales in comparison to the other characters. MacNicol has the somewhat undesirable task of having to play the character who carries the least amount of baggage. He therefore might be overlooked, when viewing at the movie as a whole. However, MacNicol does a great job with the character, not trying to make more out of it than it is supposed to be. His role is very important to this movie.

But the real story here is Streep. Her performance would be a stand out against any other performance in history. I honestly believe that. Streep just digs down deep here - delivering lines that just put a chill down your spine.

Christmas with Sophie 2017

[artoffilmorg · 10/10 · 26 December 2017]

I don't know why I didn't want to see Sophie's Choice, not for years. I knew about Meryl Streep's performance, Alan J Pakula. Kevin Kline and I also knew that I had to see it eventually. Well, Christmas 2017 brought the shattering story into my life and now forever in my subconscious. Extraordinary is the first word that comes to mind. Meryl Streep's performance is out of this world. Every detail in her creation is a sort of link to her heart and therefore to mine. "Emil Dickens?" Her eyes, asking the question to the awful librarian will stay with me forever. Meryl Streep as Sophie asked that question 35 years ago. Amazing! What a devastating treat. It will make me go back to see all of her films., specially "A Cry In The Dark", "Plenty", "The Bridges Of Madison County" "Julia and Julia" even "Death Becomes Her" and "The Devil Wears Prada" Thank you Meryl Streep, thank you very much.

Probably the best Oscar-winning performance ever.

[Johnnee · 3 November 1998]

If the Oscars were to take every Best Actress winner ever -- from Janet Gaynor to Helen Hunt -- Meryl Streep would definitely have a good shot at winning against them. She gives a spellbinding, totally believable performance as Sophie, a timid Polish woman who befriends Stingo (Peter MacNicol), while she tells him of her tortured past in a concentration camp. As always, she does her foreign accent without fault, and puts her all in her performance, better than she's ever done. The movie itself is very good, too -- it may drag at times (at 2 1/2 hours), but definitely worth a look.

Best Performance Ever

[dakridge · 10/10 · 10 February 2005]

Meryl Streep's performance as Sophie is simply the finest performance ever captured on film. Period. The subtlety and depth with which she reveals Sophie's wounds are simply spellbinding. She is at once radiantly beautiful, yet deeply wounded. She is charming, yet vulnerable. She is someone you want to love, yet someone whose pain keeps you at a distance.

This film takes the viewer on an intense emotional journey. Anyone, but especially anyone who is a parent, would have to be an emotional rock to not be absolutely haunted by this story. As much as I have studied and pondered the Holocaust, this film has connected me to those events more emotionally than I have ever been before.

This film, and Ms. Streep's performance, are a gift to humanity.

Pure cinematic intoxication!

[sabahataijaz · 7/10 · 11 May 2005]

Director Alan J. Pakula's film, a departure from his conspiracy and suspense dramas, is an adaptation of William Styron's best-selling novel of the same name. The story itself is based on his experiences as a southerner living in Brooklyn in 1947.

Pakula essentially preserves the structure of Styron's novel as it begins with the arrival of Stingo, an aspiring young writer, in post - WWII Brooklyn. After settling into a boarding house, he meets a unique couple that offers him alternating support and heartbreak.

He befriends the Jewish biologist, Nathan (Kevin Kline), and his girlfriend, Sophie Zawistowska (Meryl Streep), a Polish refugee and Auschwitz survivor. But their relationship is clouded by Nathan's violent behaviour, his uncontrollable jealousy, and Sophie's unexpressed but troubling memories of war. Her stories about her life during the war begin to unravel, exposing her as a liar and adding a tone of mystery to the relationship between Nathan, Stingo, and herself.

The film culminates in a flashback, reflecting the horrors of the war and the true cause of Sophie's insufferable pain and the bitter choice she had to make…

Streep deservedly won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Actress, bringing on the tears, playing both a naive girl and a worldly woman, transforming herself into a Holocaust victim and survivor. Speaking flawlessly in a Polish accent and acceptable German, she basically became Sophie Zawistowska.

And while Streep is undoubtedly the star, both Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol deserve credit for making 'Sophie's Choice' work as well as it does.

While overall this is Stingo's coming of age story, at its central core we get drawn into Sophie's saga. Pakula uses an Emily Dickinson poem to frame her story:

Ample make this bed.Make this bed with awe; In it wait till judgment break excellent and fair. Be its mattress straight, be its pillow round; Let no sunrise' yellow noise interrupt this ground.

The reference to the bed is the key to understanding Sophie's persona. She relies on Nathan's physical love, even as he abuses her, to cope with her Auschwitz ghosts.

Nestor Almendros' delicately lit cinematography, with its complex levels of saturation and subtle impositions of shadow, has often been meticulously replicated. The flesh tones are perfect, the image is solid and the colours, when in full bloom, are exquisitely formed. Equally effective is the use of music created by Marvin Hamlisch. Two themes are effectively intertwined throughout the story – both melancholic.

Though the film deals with the Holocaust, it doesn't graphically show Nazi horrors, but rather refers to them abstractly, making it more effective. 'Sophie's Choice' provides the emotional core of the horror and shows what devastating experiences the survivors must deal with. For Pakula, the film was an artistic highpoint and his most deeply felt work. Undoubtedly, 'Sophie's Choice' remains his most powerful, highly distinctive drama.

Meryl Streep's Greatest Performance

[JamesHitchcock · 8/10 · 30 September 2005]

"Sophie's Choice" is set in Brooklyn in the late 1940s, soon after the end of the Second World War. The three main characters are Stingo, a young writer from the Deep South, and Nathan and Sophie, the couple who befriend him. Nathan is a Jewish New Yorker who tells Stingo that he is a research biologist for a pharmaceutical company. Sophie is a Polish gentile immigrant who has survived imprisonment in Auschwitz by the Nazis. At first the atmosphere is relatively light, one of love, friendship and fun. This part of the film is shot in brilliant colour in a summer setting, and the affluent suburbs of New York seem a safe haven from the horrors of the war that has recently ravaged Europe.

Gradually, however, the tone darkens as we become aware that the gentle, beautiful Sophie is hiding a dark secret. We learn that her beloved father was not, as she claimed, an anti-Nazi intellectual, but was actually a rabid anti-Semite and admirer of Nazism whom the Germans murdered by mistake. Nathan originally seems eccentric but vivacious and likable, but as the film progresses he begins to show signs of disturbance, insulting Stingo whom he has previously treated as a friend, and unreasonably suspecting Sophie of being unfaithful to him. We, and Stingo, learn from Nathan's brother that he is in fact suffering from mental illness and that he is only employed by the pharmaceutical company in a lowly clerical position, not as a research scientist, although Sophie remains unaware of these facts.

In 1982 there had been many films made about the Second World War, but relatively few about the Holocaust, which seemed to daunt film-makers by its very enormity. Alan Pakula was therefore breaking new ground, particularly as he approached the subject from a controversial angle, tackling the question of war guilt- not the legal and moral guilt of those who perpetrated the Holocaust, but the psychological guilt of those who survived it. After liberation from the camps, many survivors such as Sophie experienced feelings of guilt that they had survived whereas many others, including friends and family members, had died. Sophie's feelings of guilt are exacerbated by her knowledge of her father's odious political views and by the fact that she had attempted to exploit her father's reputation and her fluent knowledge of German in an attempt to ingratiate herself with Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz, whose secretary she became. Sophie's most agonising secret, however, is the "choice" of the film's title- the fact that she was forced by a brutal Nazi officer to choose which of her two children should live and which should die. Her love for the Jewish Nathan, whom she clings to despite his mistreatment of her, may be a way of atoning for her guilt feelings.

There are a few weaknesses in the film. During the first half the action can be too slow, and Stingo, as played by Peter MacNichol, seems a fairly weak figure. The scene of his sexual encounter with a girl who talks like a whore and acts like a prude would be funny in a comedy but is out of place in a serious film like this one. Despite these weaknesses, however, this is a film which more than justifies its ambitious theme. Meryl Streep is one of the greatest film actresses of all time, and certainly the best of the early eighties, and this is possibly her best-ever role. She demonstrated her famed linguistic talents, playing the Auschwitz scenes in excellent German and the English-language scenes with a Polish accent, but (contrary to what some hostile critics have sometimes claimed) there is more to her acting than a collection of foreign accents. One criticism that is sometimes made of Streep is that she is too intellectual an actress, self-consciously thinking her way into a part rather than trying to live it emotionally, but in this case at least this seems to be the right approach. It is difficult to see how the "Method" could cope with a role like Sophie, whose emotional experiences are so far beyond those of any actress likely to be called upon to play her. Certainly, I found this one of the most affecting performances I have seen. Never can the "Best Actress" Oscar have been better deserved. Kevin Kline was unlucky not to have been nominated for his part as the tormented and tragic Nathan. This is a dark, sombre film but one of high quality and great emotional power. 8/10

A Choice Role for Streep

[kenjha · 7/10 · 11 April 2008]

Comments from 2008 Viewing: Pakula skillfully brings the Styron novel about a woman's harrowing journey through WW2 to the screen. Streep's performance comes across as too mannered initially but must be considered a success ultimately, worthy of the Oscar she received. Although his character is supposed to be moody and manic, Kline is still much too animated and somewhat annoying as Streep's lover. MacNicol is fine, bringing much needed normalcy into the story as the young man befriended by the couple. The scene depicting the title of the movie is perhaps the most heart-wrenching in all of cinema. Hamlisch's elegiac score helps create a haunting atmosphere.

Comments from 2013 Viewing: The scenes in Brooklyn, which take up much of the film, are repetitious and somewhat dreary. The flashback scenes are disjointed and lacking in narrative flow. Pakula's direction seems heavy-handed and too respectful of the book. Rating reduced from 8 to 7.

The finest performance by an actress in the history of film.

[Jen_UK · 9/10 · 28 December 2001]

'Sophie's Choice' should be compulsory viewing for any member of the voting panel who decide Academy Award winners. Quite simply, Meryl Streep's performance is THE benchmark for that 'Best Actress' category. I've seen a LOT of films, but not one performance has ever (and will ever) match her's. The manner in which she embodies Sophie goes beyond explanation. It is too accomplished and moving for words. It is almost offensive to think that Julia Roberts was awarded the same statue for ‘Erin Brockovich'!

Aside from the breathtaking central performance from the marvellous Ms Streep, there are so many other reasons to see this film. Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol are excellent, the cinematography is beautiful (particularly the shots of Brooklyn Bridge) the score is haunting ... I could go on.

Although certain critics have berated 'Sophie's Choice' as a mere platform for Meryl Streep as an actress, I urge you to overlook this view. The film succeeds admirably in bringing to horrific life an event in history which we should all be made aware of. It is undeniable that the phenomenal performance of MS leaves you spellbound, but NOT at the expense of being horrified and affected by what you have seen. All I can say to sum up is: just see it. An intelligent and profoundly moving film which will (I promise you) live on in your memory long after the closing credits.

Sophie's Choice

[jboothmillard · 7/10 · 28 December 2008]

I knew that the lead actress won her second Academy Award for her leading role, I knew her two supporting actors, and I knew vaguely the storyline behind it, and it turned out to be a very good film, from director Alan J. Pakula (Klute, All the President's Men, The Devil's Own). Basically young American South writer Stingo (Peter MacNicol) has come to post World War II Brooklyn, and meets beautiful Polish immigrant Sophie Zawistowski (Oscar and Golden Globe winning, and BAFTA nominated Meryl Streep), and her lover Nathan Landau (BAFTA nominated newcomer Kevin Kline). The three of them spend much time together, and become the closest of friends, but Sophie is not as innocent as she seems, she is haunted by ghosts from her past, Nathan is obsessed with the Holocaust, and his violent temper is increasing, it is apparent he suffers from mental illness doesn't help. One night, Sophie tells Stingo the reason behind her tattoo serial number, and the reason for her pain, with flashbacks to 1938, where she and her daughter and son were taken to a Nazi Concentration Camp. Back in present day, Stingo asks Sophie to marry him, she accepts, but at the same time, Nathan is asking the same of Sophie, and Stingo has to be best man, Nathan goes into another violent mood, and Sophie runs to Stingo, and tells the rest of her story. She and her children arrived in Auschwitz, and a Nazi officer forced her to choose life for one of her children, while the other would be taken away and exterminated, she pleads not to have to choose, an officer almost takes both children, but she chooses her daughter to be taken, she believed her son would better survive the camp. After she has finished her story, Sophie tells Stingo not to mention marriage or children, despite sleeping together, and finding a note from Sophie saying she went back to Nathan, Stingo finds that they both committed suicide, he leaves Brooklyn soon after. Also starring Rita Karin as Yetta, Stephen D. Newman as Larry Landau, Greta Turken as Leslie Lapidus, Josh Mostel as Morris Fink, Marcell Rosenblatt as Astrid Weinstein, Moishe Rosenfeld as Moishe Rosenblum, Robin Bartlett as Lillian Grossman, Günther Maria Halmer as Rudolf Hoess, Karlheinz Hackl as SS Doctor and Ulli Fessl as Frau Hoess. The three lead stars all have their great moments together, Kline is splendid being both serious and silly, MacNicol is good as the adorable timid character, but the stand out is obviously a deserved Oscar winning performance by Streep, who handles the Polish accent and language perfectly, and gives real depth to the film that has all the right ingredients, and especially gripping in the Holocaust flashbacks, a splendid drama. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Music for Marvin Hamlisch and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Drama. Meryl Streep was number 58 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, and she was number 26 on The World's Greatest Actor, and the film was number 19 on The 100 Greatest Tearjerkers. Very good!

Haunting

[jenjen21 · 10/10 · 2 November 2003]

Wow! I am still in absolute shock from this film. Meryl Streep delivers a magnificent performance, with a flawless Polish accent. Kevin Kline and Peter Macnichol are terrific and together the three of them make a highly enjoyable film. The 'choice' Sophie has to make is shattering, a beautifully acted and unforgettable scene. Meryl Streep won the best actress Oscar for her portrayal of the nazi camp survivor, this was richly deserved. The film was incredible with a great score and many moving emotional scenes. The emotions of the characthers, especially Sophie, are incredibly beliveable and bought to life. All 3 of the main performances are haunting and memorable. A must see.

Highly reccomended. 10/10

Sophie's choices

[rpduffy861 · 6/10 · 3 November 2013]

I am forever blindsided by the inhumanity of the Nazi war machine, collective insanity! With that being said, the movie title is a bit misleading --- In my humble opinion, It was not a singular choice Sophie made but many choices.

Some viewers of this movie contend that Sophie's choice was the one she made to save her son over her daughter. The title is deceptive and leads the viewer to conclude it that way with little effort on the viewer to go beyond that.

Sophie is rifled with choices. Stingo vs. Nathan, life versus death (during the war and in its aftermath). Be loyal to her dad's worldview and that of her husband, or support their enemy. Be truthful in her post as Nazi aid and secretary, or save herself from certain extermination. The list goes on and on.

I found the acting to be superb but found the overall movie to be just competent, nothing amazing.

Wrenching, horrific choice but ruined by post war story

[roghache · 4/10 · 2 April 2006]

I realize I will be in the minority but personally, I did not care for this film. Meryl Streep won a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Sophie, a woman forced to make a gut wrenching decision in a concentration camp. Streep is not normally my favorite actress, though I did like her in Music of the Heart. I couldn't really decide here whether this was a superb portrayal of Sophie's devastating choice, or whether my judgment was clouded by all my past negative impressions of Streep tending to overact.

The story revolves around a Polish refugee, Sophie, who is haunted by past concentration camp experiences, in her modern relationship with a schizophrenic American Jew, Nathan, who is obsessed with the Holocaust and is abusive to her. The story is related by their mutual friend, Stingo, a Southern writer who has come to post war New York.

The flashback scenes to Sophie's Auschwitz days are unforgettable and her choice horrific, but in my opinion, her story would have been infinitely more powerful if the entire movie had been set back in Nazi Poland, where she served as Rudolh Hoess's secretary due to her fluency in German. I completely agree with a few others, who also find it's an effective one third of a movie, the concentration camp portion. Much of the film is boring, as we await the gripping climax.

I am a mother and certainly find Sophie's choice a haunting one but this movie not at all impressive. The only character of interest in the post war setting (the majority of the picture) is Sophie herself. It does indeed diminish Sophie's dramatic tale, that her woeful experiences (in fact, a living death) are placed on equal par with all the assorted psychological jumble of Nathan's admittedly sad (but apparently atypical) paranoid schizophrenia and, worse, the mindless tittle tattle of Stingo's love & sex life.

22 years later.....still the BEST acting ever

[Niteout23 · 4 January 2004]

This is still one of my favorite movies of all time ....and absolutely the best acting by an actress in all the years since then. Streep is magnificent and flawless. The "choice" scene was so horrifying to me (a mother of a young son and daughter at the time) that it took me several years before I could watch the movie without skipping past that part. It is such a small scene, yet its impact was so haunting and so horrifying - I can't think of any other scene in a movie that has affected me like that. Kline was terrific as well, and the musical score is beautiful and memorable. All in all, a wonderful film, and a perfect 10 from me. What a gifted actress!

heart wrenching scene and superb acting

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 19 January 2015]

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.

Powerful, engaging, moving drama

[grantss · 9/10 · 1 August 2021]

1948. A young man, Stingo, moves to New York with aspirations of becoming a writer. He befriends two of his neighbours, Sophie and Nathan. Sophie is Polish and survived a Nazi concentration camp during WW2. Nathan and Sophie seem very much in love but Nathan's fits of jealousy and abuse threaten their idyllic existence. Moreover, Sophie harbours some deep secrets from her time in Auschwitz.

Excellent drama. Initially an engaging story of three friends and their relationship. This largely innocent initial period sets up the film for the later plot developments and revelations. The revelations are incredibly moving, revealing the extent of Nazi brutality and the lengths people had to go to and the decisions they had to make in order to survive it.

In addition this some other powerful subjects and themes are explored: the depths of man's inhumanity towards man, abusive relationships and why people stay in them, innocence lost.

While the plot and direction set this up to be a great movie, ensuring its classic status is an absolutely mesmerising performance from Meryl Streep as Sophie. Everything about her performance is perfect, down to the last word of dialogue and facial expression. There can't be too many better performances, if any, in the history of cinema and she truly deserved her Best Actress Oscar.

Streep time

[=G= · 7/10 · 29 September 2003]

"Sophie's Choice" is a luke warm flick with a whole lot of "toos". Too long, too obvious, too theatrical, too unbelievable, etc. Telling of a holocaust survivor in America, Sophie (Streep), and the pair of love interests she cultivates (Kline & MacNicol), this ensemble drama showcases an Oscar winning and memorable performance by Streep who gets to stretch and strut her consummate talents over a 2.5 hour run. Streep's wonderful workout is about the only reason to give this 20+ year old flick a dust off. Recommended only for Streep fans. (B)

..only one of the commentaries found its true star...

[fimimix · 10/10 · 1 May 2006]

...all of the characters in this astounding book/movie were as good or as unimportant as viewers/readers found them to be, simply because William Styron developed them that way: Stingo WAS an unexperienced nerd, having lived an idyllic life in the South with nothing happening in his life, yet aspired to write the Great American Novel; how perfect for a virginous male to so fortunate to live with people who educate him what a horrendous journey life can be. McNichols was perfect for this role, because he was the opposite of Sophie. Nathan was mad and KNEW he was mad, longing with all his soul to be otherwise; a little madness drives people to do astounding things. Kline was perfect; what a shame he has never found another role as good. Sophie was the haunted lady whose life made her that way; Styron's development of her character is masterful. I read an interview in which he was asked how he felt his novel was presented in the film. His reply, "I took the money and ran." He could foresee there would be controversy over his work.

Some viewers, especially the younger ones, cannot appreciate how actresses have developed over the life-time of movie-making. They should watch some of the "silent" films to learn that mime was the only way to express an emotion. Mellodrama, intentionally so - yet, look at the entire work of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford as examples of contrived performances. They were, at last, able to confront one another in "Baby Jane" - attempting to "out-drama" one another made it the wonderful film it is.

There is simply no other actress, that we know of, who is more talented a performer than Streep. Unlike Davis and Crawford, she is not concerned about her "star-power". She becomes whatever character she is playing, no matter if we like them or not. SO WHAT if "Sophie's Choice" was a vehicle to demonstrate her power? Please write another !! William Styron, stand forth ! Because of her absorption into her characters and the many nuances she developed in "Choice", take a look at "The Deer Hunter" to see how powerfully she played an un-extraordinarily plain woman perfectly. Under-playing a character, to make you believe people are actually like that, is the mark of a great actress.

I ardently pray there will be another role for Ms. Streep - even in her older years - that will allow us to become totally engrossed, to get outside of our own lives, to become completely destroyed, delirious, shattered just for a couple of hours, to realize there is still such talent in the world - THAT WE CAN AFFORD TO WATCH, at least.....thank heavens for this magical film.....

Classic picture? Not really. Timeless performance? Definitely.

[patriciogl10 · 7/10 · 26 August 2018]

The biggest reason one would have to watch this movie is Streep's performance, and of course its compelling story. I'm not really a fan of Streep's overestimated acting abilities but I believe it all really started for her with Kramer vs. Kramer and this ultimately put her on the spotlight, and with absolute reason. Her performance in this movie remains and will remain a worldly landmark of historical excellence in acting. She captivates you very early in the movie and it just keeps growing and growing until you are in outright awe and emotionally drained, specifically when we reach the final act and come to the realization of what her choice actually is.

To me, the highlights of the story are the flashback sequences, which I find most intriguing and I love how they were slowly build up right up to that famous climax where we see Sophie making a heart shattering decision.

I believe that Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol are severely outshone by Streep's performance; I just couldn't care enough about their characters. I disliked Nathan from the beginning, I found him to be such an annoyingly phoney man, and thoroughly despised him, perhaps that speaks well about Kline's performance. Stingo was such a weak and spineless character that didn't even connected with Sophie at a deep personal level in my opinion. Sidenote: was it really love that always made Sophie come back to the malicious and unstable Nathan? Or was it her deep and everlasting gratitude that spoke through her motivations? That was something that got stuck with me after the movie ended.

Alan J. Pakula did a fair job from the director's chair, although it is my least favourite film by him (out of the ones I've seen of course).

In conclusion, I don't really think this movie holds up to this day as a classic piece of cinema per se, but I do believe that Meryl Streep's outstanding timeless performance is worthy enough for you to make an attempt at watching this motion picture. I can definitely say you won't regret it.

A career defining role!!!

[cmartin-33 · 10/10 · 14 December 2006]

Arguably Meryl Streep's most compelling performance...and lord knows the woman has turned in a few during her career! I found myself delighted, beguiled, enchanted, crushed and ultimately reduced to a drained and empty shell by the film's end; it took several days thereafter to fully recover. Her vulnerability and honesty are as inescapable as her demons. And you cannot help but be drawn into such a real sense of both conflict & compassion, duty and despair...this film completely melted my face off while cementing an admiration and awe I rarely experience from an actor's performance. All due respect to both Kline & MacNichol for their fine portrayals, but really the movie begins and ends with Streep's haunting, brilliant and enormously human turn as Sophie! This is a "must see" film albeit a gut wrenching experience!!! Totally amazing!!!

Easily Deserving of the Best Actress Award

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 13 May 2010]

There are many things that can be said about "Sophie's Choice". It can be viewed as an immigrant tale or a Holocaust tale or a love story or any other number of angles you want to pursue it. I'm not really going to talk about that. The one thing that stands out for me, and obviously stood out for people at the time, is Meryl Streep's performance.

Another reviewer says her performance "is simply the finest performance ever captured on film. Period." If that's not enough, they call it "a gift to humanity." That might be an exaggeration, but it's true to a point: Streep mastered a few languages and accents, as well as playing her part physically. Sadly, women in American films are more often secondary, but here she is given the starring role and nails it. Many have said this is the single greatest performance from an actress, and they may be right.

As for the film as a whole, I'm torn. I liked it, but without Streep, it would have been forgotten decades ago.

The performance of a lifetime

[citizen813 · 9/10 · 25 November 2004]

Although achingly literary at times, moments of true emotional power are rendered by fluid storytelling, Nestor Almendros's haunting cinematography, Marvin Hamlisch's quietly effecting score, a touching performance by Peter MacNichol, and a seminal performance by Meryl Streep; one that Kim Stanley (the celebrated actress/teacher and Oscar nominated mother to Jessica Lange in 'Frances' of the same year) proclaimed, "the titanic portrayal of her generation."

No matter what your initial feelings about this film, I encourage you to go back and take in Streep's dark dance of loss, madness and, finally, sorrowful redemption.

This is a good movie to understand a paranoid schizophrenic, and the horror of a concentration camp.

[macpherr · 6/10 · 29 September 1999]

Sophie Zawistowska is stunningly portrayed by outstanding actress Meryl Streep (One True Thing) who won the Oscar for Best Actress for the part. Nathan, Kevin Kline (French Kiss) is a paranoid schizophrenic. Nathan has this mania of grandiose, mood swings. He bites Sophie. Their relationship has its ups and downs. When Nathan is up, he is beyond up, when he is down he is suicidal. Stingo, Peter MacNicol (Ally Mac Beal), is their good friend who falls in love with Sophie. I found the story to be somewhat on the sad side: (1) Because of the situations that Sophie has been through in her life; (2) Nathan's illness and his addiction to cocaine; (3) the concentration camp. But Meryl is so wonderful with her accents, which makes one forget all the sadness in the movie. This is a good movie to understand a paranoid schizophrenic. When the person with the disorder is treated properly their quality of life can be enhanced. But Nathan in not taking medication and is addicted to cocaine. Favorite Scenes: Sophie, Nathan, Stingo playing the piano six hands. Nathan conducting the orchestra in a bay window, which gives basically three images of himself. Three glasses of Champagne on the Brooklyn Bridge. Nathan was fatally glamorous but severely ill. Favorite Quotes: "The truth does not make it easier to understand." "The truth... I don't even know what is the truth after all those lies I have told."

It Took Me Almost Forty Years to Watch This Movie and I Wish I Waited Forty More

[bysterbusch · 3/10 · 4 July 2020]

I can't understand the hype surrounding this movie. The performances were okay, leaning towards over exaggerated. I can understand the anguish over Sophie's sacrifice, but the film defining scene was barely a few minutes long. An hour could have easily been trimmed from the movie without any real degradation of the storyline. All of the pain of the decision being built up seemed inconsequential.