Stingo, a young writer, moves to Brooklyn in 1947 to begin work on his first novel. As he becomes friendly with Sophie and her lover Nathan, he learns that she is a Holocaust survivor. Flashbacks reveal her harrowing story, from pre-war prosperity to Auschwitz. In the present, Sophie and Nathan's relationship increasingly unravels as Stingo grows closer to Sophie and Nathan's fragile mental state becomes ever more apparent.
Though it's far from a flawless movie, Sophie's Choice is a unified and deeply affecting one. Thanks in large part to Miss Streep's bravura performance, it's a film that casts a powerful, uninterrupted spell.
– Janet Maslin,
New York Times,
30 Aug 2004
fresh:
So perfectly cast and well-imagined that it just takes over and happens to you. It's quite an experience.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
23 Oct 2004
rotten:
By the end, the accumulated weight and lethargy of the production fails to invest Sophie's fate with the significance Styron achieves.
– Derek Adams,
Time Out,
24 Jun 2006
rotten:
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.