Sophie's Choice

"Between the innocent, the romantic, the sensual, and the unthinkable. There are still some things we have yet to imagine."

1982 2h 31m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

★7.3TMDB · 969

DramaRomanceWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“Between the innocent, the romantic, the sensual, and the unthinkable. There are still some things we have yet to imagine.”

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Cast

Meryl Streep
Zofia "Sophie" Zawistowski
Kevin Kline
Nathan Landau
Peter MacNicol
Stingo
Rita Karin
Yetta
Stephen D. Newman
Larry
Greta Turken
Leslie Lapidus
Josh Mostel
Morris Fink
Marcell Rosenblatt
Astrid Weinstein

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Alan J. Pakula
Writers: Alan J. Pakula
Languages: Czech, German, French, Polish, Russian, English
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 151 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

44 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 6 languages: Czech, German, French, Polish, Russian, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Alan J. Pakula, shot by Néstor Almendros. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Marvin Hamlisch. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Evan A. Lottman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Alan J. Pakula directs. Néstor Almendros behind the camera. Marvin Hamlisch scores. Evan A. Lottman cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in Czech, German, French, Polish, Russian, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 151 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
244 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 6 languages: Czech, German, French, Polish, Russian, English.
4International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
5Directed by Alan J. Pakula, shot by Néstor Almendros. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Marvin Hamlisch. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Evan A. Lottman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Between the innocent, the romantic, the sensual, and the unthinkable. There are still some things we have yet to imagine.".
10IMDB entry: tt0084707 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Néstor Almendros
Original score: Marvin Hamlisch
Editing: Evan A. Lottman
Production design: George Jenkins
Costume design: Albert Wolsky
Makeup / hair: Frank Bianco
Runtime: 151 min · 2h 31m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $12,000,000
Box office: $30,036,166
Return: 250% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Sophie's Choice (1982)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Alan J. Pakula

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-01-11
★ 7/10
Not long after the end of WWII, we meet "Stingo" (Peter MacNicol) who isn't exactly impressed when he encounters his new upstairs neighbours. "Nathan" (Kevin Kline) seems to be a bit of an noisy and brutish oaf towards his girlfriend "Sophie" (Meryl Streep). Luckily, next morning peace has broken out and they climb in his window to invite him on a seaside picnic. He's a budding writer, and what he clocks quite early is the volatility of "Nathan", a Jewish man who seems to have a great deal of emotional baggage. She, on the other hand, is much more considered and sedate - and that's the shield that he is determined to penetrate. Once he does and she begins to open up to him, we discover that she is an holocaust survivor and has had to make some horrendous decisions in her life just to stay alive. It's this latter, intimate and frightening, stage of the film that really showcases Streep's abilities to convey a palpable sense of fear. Sure, the accent isn't maybe the best but the scenes in the camp, the terrors and the anachronism of the commandant's relatively luxury home and happy family - where she ends up working in domestic service - being only yards from the scene of such brutality is also well, subtly, presented. Every now and again we come up for air - to their present day - to recalibrate the story and advance the more contemporaneous storyline before we dive deeper for some more of just what happened in Europe in the 1940s. It's another of those films where the victims of this villainy are the ones who want/need/have to forget whist others are fascinated by their experiences and want to know more. From that perspective, MacNicol plays his part - increasingly treading on the psychological eggshells - well, especially as the dynamic between them begins to shift. Kline doesn't disappoint, either. His annoyingly neurotic character isn't always the most likeable, but as a vital piece of this powerfully scripted jigsaw he adds a potent dimension to sentiments of guilt, grief, anger and regret that prevail as the story builds up an head of steam. It's a stylish, Gatsby-esque, looking production and brims with humanity, humility and some very dark humour on occasion, too. Not an easy watch, but stories like this never grow old.

Production companies