White Bird

"One act of kindness lives on forever."

2023 2h 1m EN

🙌

7.8

BANGER

🍅

75%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

7.4

IMDB

★7.8TMDB · 251🍅75%Rotten Tomatoes●54Metacritic★7.4IMDB · 9,204

DramaWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After being expelled from Beecher Prep for his treatment of a classmate with a facial deformity, Julian has struggled to fit in at his new school. To transform his life, Julian's grandmother finally reveals her own story of courage of her youth in Nazi-occupied France, where a classmate shelters her from mortal danger.

“One act of kindness lives on forever.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Ariella Glaser
Sara (Young Grandmére)
Orlando Schwerdt
Julien Beaumier
Bryce Gheisar
Julian Albans
Gillian Anderson
Vivienne Beaumier
Helen Mirren
Grandmére
Jo Stone-Fewings
Jean-Paul Beaumier
Patsy Ferran
Mille. Petitjean
Stuart McQuarrie
Pastor Luc

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Marc Forster
Writers: Mark Bomback, Matous Liesler
Languages: German, French, English
Countries: 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

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 44% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 3 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: German, French, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

491+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Marc Forster, shot by Matthias Koenigswieser. 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 Thomas Newman. 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 Matt Chessé 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

Ariella Glaser and Orlando Schwerdt and Bryce Gheisar carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Marc Forster directs. Matthias Koenigswieser behind the camera. Thomas Newman scores. Matt Chessé cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in German, French, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 44% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released 3 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: German, French, English.
4491+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Marc Forster, shot by Matthias Koenigswieser. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Thomas Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Matt Chessé shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Ariella Glaser and Orlando Schwerdt and Bryce Gheisar carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "One act of kindness lives on forever.".
10IMDB entry: tt11068094 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 17 themes, including "france", "nazi", "holocaust (shoah)", "world war ii".

The technical file

Cinematography: Matthias Koenigswieser
Original score: Thomas Newman
Editing: Matt Chessé
Production design: Jennifer Williams
Costume design: Jenny Beavan
Makeup / hair: Tracey Wells
Sound: P.K. Hooker
Stunt coordinator: David Lištván
Runtime: 121 min · 2h 1m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $20,000,000
Box office: $8,799,528
Return: 44% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: White Bird (2023)
Rotten Tomatoes: 75% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 54/100
IMDB rating: 7.4/10 · 9,204 votes
MPAA: PG-13

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Marc Forster

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Brent Marchant2024-12-04
★ 7/10
Teachable moments can prove integral to the personal growth and development of those coming of age. So it is for 15-year-old Julian Albans (Bryce Gheisar), the central figure featured in the Wonder series of books and graphic novels, the inspiration behind a 2017 film of the same name and this loosely connected new sequel offering. The story here picks up where its predecessor left, with Julian resuming his scholastic life at a new private academy after having been expelled from his prior school. He’s not sure how to fit in, especially when confronted by others with similar kinds of bad behavior that got him booted from his old school. Now, though, he has an opportunity to change his destiny and begin anew, largely thanks to a visit from his Parisian grandmother, renowned artist Sara Blum (Helen Mirren), who visits his family in New York to attend a museum retrospective of her work. Sara can see that Julian is struggling, and so she launches into a story about her life when she was his age in hopes that it will help. She chronicles in detail the ordeals she faced when living in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. As a Jew, she sought to evade captivity at the hands of the Germans and their French collaborators, receiving unexpected aid from a kind young classmate (fittingly named Julien (Orlando Schwerdt)) who was afflicted with polio and struggled to walk with the aid of a crutch. Having been the subject of unrelenting, unprompted ridicule due to his disability, Julien could relate to the scorn being inflicted on young Sara (Ariella Glaser), stepping in to protect her with the help of his compassionate parents (Gillian Anderson, Jo Stone-Fewings). Through a series of extended flashbacks, the elder Sara thus relates her story, focusing on the virtues of what kindness can accomplish for those in need, a message her grandson needs to hear if he expects to make a fresh start, just the kind of teachable moment she believes he can use. Director Marc Forster has thus capably assembled an enlightening tale for impressionable young adult audiences, especially in an age when those values are being severely tested in all corners of contemporary society. Tolerance, compassion and kindness are clearly the principal virtues being championed here (admittedly sometimes a little too obviously, clichéd and heavy-handedly for my tastes), but sometimes it takes such a commanding approach to drive these messages home, especially in frequently self-absorbed times like these. The film also tends to sag in the middle, with pacing that could stand to be quickened, garrulous dialogue that could have been sharper and more succinct, and periodic changes in tone that are a little too drastic to be credible. Nevertheless, there are many compelling and heartwarming moments in this release, making it a good family viewing option and a suitable choice for younger viewers who might find a grittier treatment of its subject matter to be a little too intense for them to handle. Either way, there are valuable lessons to be gained from screening “White Bird” despite its shortcomings, and that could go a long way toward helping to reshape the values needed for creating a better world.

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