A Thousand Times Good Night

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Erik Poppe directs. John Christian Rosenlund behind the camera. Armand Amar scores. Sofia Lindgren cuts. Produced in Norway, Ireland, Sweden. Dialogue in Irish, Swedish, Norwegian, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 13 years ago.
• 2Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Irish, Swedish, Norwegian, English.
• 3International production across 3 countries: Norway, Ireland, Sweden.
• 4Directed by Erik Poppe, shot by John Christian Rosenlund. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Armand Amar. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Sofia Lindgren shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Juliette Binoche and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Lauryn Canny carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "She risked life and family to change the world.".
• 9IMDB entry: tt2353767 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography

John Christian Rosenlund

Original score

Armand Amar

Editing

Sofia Lindgren

Production design

Eleanor Wood

Costume design

Martina McCarthy

Makeup / hair

Jennifer Hegarty

VFX supervisor

Peter Hjorth

Sound

Hugo Ekornes

Stunt coordinator

Joe Condren

Runtime

111 min · 1h 51m

Status

Released

Original language

NO

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

A Thousand Times Good Night (2013) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

71% 🍅 Fresh

Metacritic

57/100

IMDB rating

7/10 · 8,375 votes

MPAA

Not Rated

US box office

$53,895

Also by

Erik Poppe

• 
  Utøya: July 22

  2018 · ★ 7.1
• 
  Troubled Water

  2008 · ★ 7.1
• 
  Hawaii, Oslo

  2004 · ★ 6.8
• 
  The King's Choice

  2016 · ★ 6.8
• 
  Per Fugelli: Siste resept

  2018 · ★ 6.5
• 
  Bunch of Five

  1998 · ★ 5.8

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  A Thousand Times Good Night Official UK Trailer 1 (2014) - Juliette Binoche Movie HD

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Reno2014-09-11
  ★ 9/10

  Frankly, I never knew what the movie is about. What I expected was a beautiful romantic drama and I got a movie that defined someone's struggle over her passion and its reality. After seeing opening scene I thought it would be another movie about war similar to the '5 Days of War'. I am glad it was so distinct which was partially based on the director own experiential story when he served as a photojournalist in the '80s. It is a jointly produced movie by Ireland and Norway in English language. Rebecca is a passionate war zone photojournalist and her daring attitude make her one of the finest on the field. Like always her latest journey takes place in the war torn city of Kabul, Afghanistan. She follows a suicide bomber to cover up the story where she gets injured. After the accident the whole story flips back to her home in Ireland where it chronicles the worried husband and the two children who are very affectionate of her. This is the time where she has to choose the side, the professional? Or the family? The stay at home during recovery makes her realize the worth of her life. So the movie's end strikes with the path she opts to travel forth. ‘‘Sometimes it's hard to stay at home. I mean, the one who stays at home has the hardest job.’’ Well, it served a message with the touch of melodrama. The story demonstrated family value on the right amount of each others love and care. The opening and the end scenes that take place in Afghanistan was so brutal and there's another one that takes place in Kenya. But bringing the reality on the screen as it happening some places of the world must be appreciated. It kind of makes you realize that someone is sacrificing their life to bring light on what's happening in the war zones. Like always, Juliette Binoche was good. It was her movie, her side of the story told when she was caught between the family who loves and the war that calls her. One of the fascinating thematic movie. Regarding the main role, you may think why she's not stopping the tragedy from happening. That's the journalism, when you have no power to act, just expose to the rest of the world. The combination of family drama and the conflict zone are like two different genres that brought together awesomely. The director's own experience helped to shape the movie well. Almost all the combat related scenes were so realistic as what he had seen is now letting us know through this film. I think this movie is a must see. The end scene makes us go speechless, woefully. 9/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Newgrange Pictures

  IE

• 

  Zentropa International Sweden

  SE

• 

  Paradox Produksjon

  NO

Key crew

• Co-WriterJan Trygve Røyneland
• Additional WritingKirsten Sheridan
• Executive ProducerPeter Garde
• CastingMaureen Hughes
• Production DesignEleanor Wood
• Line ProducerAhmed Abounouom
• CastingSalaheddine Benchegra
• Foley ArtistRoy Fenstad
• Line ProducerKaare Storemyr
• Executive ProducerGeir Henning Eikeland
• Sound DesignerHugo Ekornes
• Sound Re-Recording MixerHugo Ekornes
• Supervising Sound EditorHugo Ekornes
• ColoristEmil Eriksson
• Script SupervisorMadeleine Fant
• Boom OperatorMatteo De Pellegrini
• Sound RecordistMervyn Moore
• Music EditorHugo Ekornes
• Additional MusicAnne-Sophie Versnaeyen
• Assistant EditorAnette Ruud Andersen
• Visual Effects SupervisorPeter Hjorth
• Executive ProducerStig Hjerkinn Haug
• Special Effects SupervisorJohan Harnesk
• ColoristNorman Nisbet

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• husband wife relationship
• war photographer
• photojournalism
• mother daughter relationship

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere2013-10-12· Chicago International Film Festival
• Theatrical2014-10-24NR

Also known as

International titles

• A Thousand Times Good NightUS
• 1,000 Times Good NightUS
• Mil veces Buenas NochesES
• Tusen ganger god nattNO
• Thousand Times GoodnightUS
• L'épreuveFR
• A Thousand Times Good NightGR
• אלף פעמים לילה טובIL