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Movies / On DVD / Death and the Maiden
Death and the Maiden

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Death and the Maiden (1995)

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Reviews Counted:34

Fresh:30

Rotten:4

Average Rating:7.2/10

Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Roman Polanski's suspenseful drama is based on a play by Ariel Dorfman, who also cowrote the screenplay. The movie takes place in an unspecified South American country after the recent fall of the... Roman Polanski's suspenseful drama is based on a play by Ariel Dorfman, who also cowrote the screenplay. The movie takes place in an unspecified South American country after the recent fall of the dictatorship. Paulina Escobar (Sigourney Weaver) is a former political activist and torture victim. Her husband, Gerardo (Stuart Wilson), a respected lawyer, has just been appointed to head a commission on human rights violations under the old regime, though Paulina, suffering from severe psychological trauma ever since her arrest, objects to what she perceives as a sham investigation. The couple receives an unexpected visitor one stormy night when an affable stranger, Dr. Miranda (Ben Kingsley), drops Gerardo off at the Escobars' isolated house after his car breaks down. Paulina believes she recognizes the man's voice as belonging to the doctor who supervised her torture and raped her on several occasions while she was blindfolded and strapped to a table. In spite of her husband's objections, she decides to take Miranda prisoner, threatening him with a gun, determined to get a taped confession from him at any cost. Under Polanski's keen direction, Dorfman's three-character play is successfully transformed into a captivating film that loses neither dramatic tension nor momentum along the way. [More]

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Stuart Wilson

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Stuart Wilson

Director: Roman Polanski

Director: Roman Polanski
Screenwriter: Rafael Yglesias, Ariel Dorfman

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Death and the Maiden

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
05/26/08
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
12/07/07
Susan Granger
Susan Granger
www.susangranger.com

Polanski kicks the movie up to a level of emotional violence rare in English-speaking films.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/29/07
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

No review available.

comment Comment
07/29/07
Neil Cohen
Neil Cohen
Echo Magazine

No review available.

comment Comment
02/18/07
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

Polanksi's direction is crisp and precise but he doesn't resolve basic problems of the stage-to-screen transfer: The tale is claustrophobic (mostly limited to one set) and schematic, with all three characters serving as ideological mouthpieces.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
06/12/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/26/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

No review available.

comment Comment
10/27/05
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

No review available.

comment Comment
10/08/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

No review available.

comment Comment
08/25/05
Fred Topel
Fred Topel
About.com

No review available.

comment Comment
12/28/04
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

No review available.

comment Comment
11/23/04
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

No review available.

comment Comment
07/09/04
Jon Niccum
Jon Niccum
Lawrence Journal-World

No review available.

comment Comment
05/13/04
Rebecca Murray
Rebecca Murray
About.com

No review available.

comment Comment
03/23/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

No review available.

comment Comment
08/22/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

No review available.

comment Comment
07/08/03
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

At once caustic and sincere.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
07/03/03
Bill Chambers
Bill Chambers
Film Freak Central

Roman Polanski’s underappreciated 1994 thriller Death and the Maiden confronts a litany of moral conundrums regarding guilt, revenge, punishment, justice, and man’s responsibility to himself and society.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
05/31/03
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Slant Magazine
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
all

Latest News for Death and the Maiden

May 19, 2005: Universal Gets Into a "Worst Case" Scenario
Veteran screenwriters Tom Schulman and Rafael Yglesias have sold their first collaborative effort, "Worst Case," to Universal Pictures following a rather heated... More...

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