Other Titles • Sophie's Choice • Sophies Entscheidung (1982)
Synopses for Sophie's Choice (1982)
1.
Screen-favorite Meryl Streep received an Academy Award for her portrayal of Sophie Zawistowska in this penetrating drama set in 1947 post-World War II Brooklyn. Kevin Kline plays her all-consuming lover, Nathan. The story revolves around Sophie's struggle as a Polish-Catholic immigrant in the United States who had survived a Nazi concentration camp. The lovers' drama unfolds through the observations of a friend and would-be writer, Stingo (Peter MacNicol). As the trio grows closer, Stingo discovers the hidden truths that they each harbor, resulting in a narrative that is both captivating and moving.
(16 votes)
2.
The film follows Stingo, an aspiring young writer who moves to New York just post-WWII to a Brooklyn boarding house where he becomes friends with Nathan Landau (Kevin Kline), a Jewish research chemist and Nathan's girlfriend, Polish refugee Sophie Zawistowska (Meryl Streep). Nathan and Sophie’s relationship is clouded by Nathan’s violent behavior, his uncontrollable jealousy, and Sophie’s unexpressed but troubling memories of her war experience. Her stories about her life during the war begin to unravel, exposing her as a liar and adding a tone of mystery to the strained relationship between Nathan, Stingo, and herself. The film culminates in a flashback reflecting the horrors of the war and the true cause of Sophie’s insufferable pain. Director Alan J. Pakula’s film, a departure from his conspiracy and suspense dramas, was an adaptation of William Styron’s best-selling novel and the story itself was based on his experiences as a southerner living in Brooklyn in 1947.
(16 votes)
3.
The sunny streets of Brooklyn, just after World War II. A young would-be writer named Stingo (Peter MacNicol) shares a boarding house with beautiful Polish immigrant Sophie (Meryl Streep) and her tempestuous lover, Nathan (Kevin Kline); their friendship changes his life. This adaptation of the bestselling novel by William Styron is faithful to the point of being reverential, which is not always the right way to make a film come to life. But director Alan J. Pakula (All the President's Men) provides a steady, intelligent path into the harrowing story of Sophie, whose flashback memories of the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp form the backbone of the movie. Streep's exceptional performance--flawless Polish accent and all--won her an Oscar, and effectively raised the standard for American actresses of her generation. No less impressive is Kevin Kline, in his movie debut, capturing the mercurial moods of the dangerously attractive Nathan. The two worlds of Sophie's Choice, nostalgic Brooklyn and monstrous Europe, are beautifully captured by the gifted cinematographer Néstor Almendros, whose work was Oscar-nominated but didn't win. It should have. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com
(15 votes)
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