Sophie's Choice
CBS/Fox | Release Date: December 8, 1982 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
1
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Sophie's Choice is a fine, absorbing, wonderfully acted, heartbreaking movie. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Thanks in large part to Miss Streep's bravura performance, it's a film that casts a powerful, uninterrupted spell. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
Sophie delivers three “confessions” over the course of the film, each delivered by Streep with what can only be called a commanding fragility. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeMichael Blowen
Alan Pakula's literal adaptation of William Styron's Sophie's Choice is an admirable, if reverential, movie that crams this triangle into a 2 1/2 -hour character study enriched by Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, and nearly destroyed by Peter MacNicol. [21 Jan 1983]
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The overall result is a serious though harrowing journey into the dark corners of this century, marked by a compassionate approach and even a fillip of optimism at the end. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jay Scott
The film is a respectable, claustrophobic and slick piece of work, and cinematographer Nestor Almendros' color strategies - Rembrandt-like light at night, lemony tones during the day, desaturated sepia at Auschwitz - are arty to a fault. [14 Dec 1982]
75
TV Guide MagazineStaff [Not Credited]
Competently directed by Pakula and featuring gorgeous cinematography by Almendros, Sophie's Choice is an overlong, fairly schlocky film that takes itself very seriously. Read full review
70
The DissolveKeith Phipps
Alan J. Pakula’s 1982 adaptation of William Styron’s 1979 novel Sophie’s Choice is one of those films whose great qualities put its lesser elements in sharp relief. Read full review
60
VarietyStaff [Not Credited]
Sophie's Choice is a handsome, doggedly faithful and astoundingly tedious adaptation of William Styron's best-seller. Read full review
20
Chicago ReaderDave Kehr
The picture is completely devoid of cinematic interest, adopting instead a tiresome theatrical aesthetic in which showy monologues are filmed in interminable, usually ill-chosen long takes. Read full review
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