The Railway Man

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jonathan Teplitzky directs. Garry Phillips behind the camera. David Hirschfelder scores. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Australia, France, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 13 years ago.
• 2International production across 5 countries: Australia, France, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom.
• 3272+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
• 4Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, shot by Garry Phillips. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by David Hirschfelder. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman and Stellan Skarsgård carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "Revenge is never a straight line.".
• 8IMDB entry: tt2058107 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 9Classified under 8 themes, including "post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd)", "world war ii", "victim", "redemption".

The technical file

Cinematography

Garry Phillips

Original score

David Hirschfelder

Production design

Steven Jones-Evans

Costume design

Lizzy Gardiner

Makeup / hair

Shane Thomas

Sound

Gethin Creagh

Stunt coordinator

Brahim Achabbakhe

Runtime

116 min · 1h 56m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$18,000,000

Box office

$24,174,885

Return

134% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

The Railway Man (2013) ↗

Also by

Jonathan Teplitzky

• 
  Broadchurch

  2013 · ★ 7.9
• 
  A Discovery of Witches

  2018 · ★ 7.8
• 
  Rake

  2010 · ★ 7.5
• 
  A Series of Unfortunate Events

  2017 · ★ 7.4
• 
  Indian Summers

  2015 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Origin

  2018 · ★ 7.1

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  The Railway Man - Clip #1

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  The Railway Man - Official Trailer #1

  Trailer · Official

Production companies

Who made it

• AR

  Archer Street Productions

  GB

• PI

  Pictures in Paradise

  AU

• LA

  Latitude Media

  GB

• TH

  Thai Occidental Productions

  TH

• SI

  Silver Reel

  CH

• 

  Lionsgate

  US

• 

  Screen Australia

  AU

• 

  Screen Queensland

  AU

• 

  Transmission Films

  AU

• 

  Davis Films

  FR

Key crew

• Production DesignSteven Jones-Evans
• AuthorEric Lomax
• Art DirectionNicki McCallum
• ProducerBill Curbishley
• Set DecorationNicki Gardiner
• CastingNikki Barrett
• ProducerAndy Paterson
• Costume DesignLizzy Gardiner
• Data WranglerPaul Knox
• CastingKaprice Kea
• CastingCaroline Stewart
• CastingBen Parkinson
• Hair DesignerShane Thomas
• Additional Set DresserHamish Raven
• Additional HairstylistJodie Hellingman
• HairstylistSudjai Tangsiri
• Additional Set DresserVictor Kirk
• Additional Set DresserJeff Sturm
• Assistant Art DirectorCaireen Todd
• Additional HairstylistWendy Kemp Forbes
• CarpenterMatthew Wenn
• Additional HairstylistDesiree Vogelsang
• Additional HairstylistIsobel Donald
• Makeup SupervisorVitchu Chavasit

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd)
• world war ii
• victim
• redemption
• based on true story
• autobiography
• revenge
• torture

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2014-04-11R

Also known as

International titles

• Droga do zapomnieniaPL
• Un largo viajeES
• Un Pasado ImborrableBO
• Железницата на смърттаBG
• The Railway Man - Uma Longa ViagemPT
• The Railway ManDE
• The Railway Man - Die Liebe seines LebensDE
• 铁路人CN
• A halálvasútHU