Rosenstrasse
Samuel Goldwyn Films | Release Date: August 20, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
9
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The movie is woven with care and complexity, again confirming von Trotta's place as one of the world's greatest female filmmakers. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Director Margarethe von Trotta nearly buries the drama of the protest itself within the awkwardly sentimental framework of a contemporary New Yorker's quest to learn the truth of her widowed German mother's grief and history. But while the film concentrates on Lena, eloquently portrayed by Katja Riemann, the movie earns your empathy. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Worth seeing. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
It is at once inspiring and troubling. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJean Oppenheimer
At heart a love story, Rosenstrasse benefits from strong, sympathetic performances from two actresses who play the same character at different ages. Read full review
70
VarietyDavid Stratton
A sober, unsensationalized enactment of a Holocaust incident. Von Trotta keeps sentimentality at bay and, as a result, the film isn't as emotionally wrenching as it might have been. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Most important is the film's consistent unexpectedness. Rosenstrasse captures well not only the varying states of mind and levels of awareness in Germany during World War II but also the era's lingering effect upon its survivors. Read full review
70
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
A modest yet moving fact-based drama. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Shares an important slice of German history that is largely unknown. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
As a treatment of yet another unexplored corner of the Nazi nightmare, the film is revelatory; needless to say it's also heartbreaking. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Von Trotta lingers for so long on the backstory and framing story that the movie's heart never comes to the fore. Read full review
50
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Mawkish and manipulative, the film isn't worthy of its widely praised German director. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJim Fusilli
Earnest but deeply flawed.
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The picture's structural intricacy is a smoke screen for its psychological and emotional shallowness. Read full review
50
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The actors understand completely why they are there. The editing, complex because of several time strands, is more than skillful. But the screenplay by von Trotta and Pamela Katz suborns its subject. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)James Adams
In the end, this tale of human decency fails to make you feel enough. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
Von Trotta and co-writer Pamela Katz can't resist cutting, again and again, to Hannah and her airless musings on the story's meaning. These interludes stop the movie in its tracks and, counter no doubt to von Trotta's intentions, do a disservice to the Rosenstrasse women themselves, who shouldn't have to fight for screen time. Read full review
40
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
It is unfortunate that von Trotta does not trust her audience enough to think for themselves -- her themes are carved on a sledgehammer en route to our skulls. Read full review
30
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
There's something unsettling when fiction exploits this history to such puny, self-interested ends. Read full review
30
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
An extraordinary collective act of moral and physical courage is relegated to a backdrop for a mushy, synthetic family melodrama. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
A lot of effort appears to have gone into the glitzy period re-creation, but this is mainly a tearjerker. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Not uninteresting, and it is very nicely performed, although you'll strain to learn from the movie the history on which it is based and struggle futilely to get inside the motivations of its characters. Read full review
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