Sophie's Choice (1982)

Who payed the critics

The greatest movie ever made..!

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Sophie's Choice (1982) Director: Alan J. Pakula Watched: 7/29/18 Rating: 6/10 Meryl's second win, From who knows nominations; Not sure I agree. Straddles line between Deeply affecting and sham; Accent hard to grasp. Character-driven, But Stingo/Sophie/Nathan: Nebbish/Contrived/Mad. Apt color schemes, Grand cinematography, Great costumes and sets. Engaging but overlong; Forced favoritism- strong end. Haiku Sonnets are comprised of 4 3-line haiku plus a couplet of either 5 or 7 syllables, adding up to 14 lines, the same number of lines found in a sonnet. (5-7-5, 5-7-5, 5-7-5, 5-7-5, 7-7/5-5) #HaikuSonnet #PoemReview #BestActress #ClassicBook

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.

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.

The only bit of information about her on IMDb reads: "Attended Tulane University" (the field of study is not even hinted at...). Under her Filmography, there is only one title: "Sophie's Choice"... This is all that remains from a very impressive performance of 1982 by a little girl whose name was Jennifer Lawn. Those who first saw the famous "choice" scene toward the end of the film, where the Academy Award winner Meryl Streep was holding terrified little Jennifer in her arms, must have foreseen a bright future for this kid actress who might easily fool the viewers into believing that she was actually living the scene, rather than just acting it! "A future Oscar winner in the arms of a present one", one might have prophesied back in 1982. Unfortunately, this prophecy never came true... If you have seen the movie, you are certainly familiar with this intensely dramatic scene (DON'T watch it if you have NOT seen the film and plan to do so!): costas-music.blogspot.gr/2012/12/sophies-choice-choice-scene.html