Taking Sides
New Yorker Films | Release Date: September 5, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
9
Negative:
2
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
After a somewhat shaky start, the film gradually settles in to become another extraordinarily powerful and explosively acted drama that deftly probes the moral responsibility of an artist in a totalitarian society. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Proves acutely subtle. But its question of what we forgive art in the face of atrocity and immorality is one for the ages. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A rarity -- an intelligent and moving drama of ideas that becomes increasingly thrilling as the ideas unfold. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Sparked by the actors' powerful performances, Arnold's moral absolutism and Furtwängler's lofty aestheticism make for a dramatically compelling clash. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
In compelling, suspenseful fashion, Taking Sides illuminates brilliantly the dilemma of a great, world-renowned artist flourishing in a totalitarian regime. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Ronald Harwood's screenplay, based on his stage play, brings an impressive range of moral and political issues into play. The acting is also strong. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie is both interesting and unsatisfying. The Keitel performance is over the top, inviting us to side with Furtwangler simply because his interrogator is so vile. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldMarta Barber
This is courtroom drama at is best, especially when you listen to the sublime soundtrack. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
Compelling and superbly acted. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The deep drawback of Taking Sides is that it forgets to be interested in music. [8 September 2003, p. 100]
70
VarietyDerek Elley
Its soul rests in Skarsgard's performance, a powerful mixture of buttoned-down anger and personal disappointment that combines the filmmaker's self-questioning with the real-life character's conflict. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Stellan Skarsgård's deceptively low-key performance as the beleaguered musician -- furtive, indignant, drowning in self-pity blended with a kind of ruined nobility -- pushes the emotional temperature to a quiet fever pitch. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
This dialectical drama has plenty of creaky moments, but Harvey Keitel compensates with a canny, surprising performance. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Characters do little more than run around the same track incessantly, leaving us waiting for revelations that never arrive. Read full review
63
New York PostMegan Lehmann
A compelling look at a vexa tious question, Taking Sides is, at times, hamstrung by its own ambiguity. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Taking Sides has a padded-out, stagebound quality that is anything but lyrical. And Szabó, a Hungarian best known for "Mephisto" and "Colonel Redl," is not at his best here. Read full review
60
Village VoiceLeslie Camhi
Flawed but fascinating. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid Parkinson
Powerful, personal, but bombastic. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Taking Sides is really no less simplistic than "Sunshine," but its predecessor succeeded because of its length and scope. Taking Sides stays rooted in one place and one discussion, and never gets anywhere. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Be sure to stay for the coda, a damning piece of newsreel that casts much of what went before in a whole new light. Read full review
50
PremiereLaine Ewen
The idea for the film is engaging and interesting, but the result is bland. Read full review
50
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
We can almost hear the way he (Keitel) will speak a line before he speaks it. The triteness of the role and its performance, instead of dramatizing the contrast between this philistine and the artist, makes the confrontation between the two men a smug setup. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Boy, can Harvey Keitel be bad -- and not bad like "Bad Lieutenant," bad like bad acting. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The sides to consider in Taking Sides are all but obscured by cinematic pomposity at best, Holocaust porn at worst. Read full review
30
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
The notions of the good man's complicity through inertia and of innocence tarnished by association are ones that have been more powerfully explored before. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The movie's promise -- to provide a balanced argument -- goes unrealized, and all we're left with is the spectacle of an idiot bullying a genius. Read full review
More From This Movie

61 Critic Reviews

5.4 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL