The Woman with the 5 Elephants
Cinema Guild | Release Date: July 22, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
1
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayJul 21, 2011
The Woman With The 5 Elephants isn't flawless; as articulate and fascinating as Geier could be, she was also dry at times. But Jendreyko cleverly parcels out her personal history, and he isn't afraid to break up the talkiness with long silences and luminous images. Read full review
80
Time OutKeith UhlichJul 19, 2011
Jendreyko elegantly sketches in the details of his subject's life and the historical events surrounding her coming-of-age-out of which emerges a fascinating subtext about the malleable powers of language. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. MusettoJul 22, 2011
The film is most effective when Geier, accompanied by a granddaughter, goes to Ukraine to speak at a school. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoJul 19, 2011
Watching Svetlana Geierat work, parsing the wild complexities of language as she converts Russian into German, the doc becomes a meditation on enforcing order in a world that refuses to accept it. Read full review
70
NPRMark JenkinsJul 22, 2011
Quietly astonishing documentary. Read full review
70
The New York TimesMike HaleJul 19, 2011
It's an interesting story, well told, though Mr. Jendreyko overworks some documentary fallbacks: gnarled fingers, the view from a moving train. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMichelle OrangeJul 19, 2011
Geier, who died in 2010, speaks on all subjects - from her son's mortal injury to the nature of her various collaborations - with the contemplative, courtly intelligence of her favorite novels. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungJul 19, 2011
The result is that rare thing in cinema -- an intellectually-stimulating crowd-pleaser. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineJohn P. McCarthyJul 20, 2011
Gingerly pieced together, The Woman with the 5 Elephants has a delicacy and indirectness that's alluring and provocative at the same time. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJul 22, 2011
Alas, this learned woman of letters - her expertise became the work of Dostoyevsky, whose major novels Geier nicknames "the five elephants" - is ill served by a trudging approach and dry-as-dust, procedural style. Read full review
More From This Movie

66 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL