While no one will mistake [it] for a masterpiece, it possesses an oddball charm that makes it almost a guilty pleasure to enjoy.
The Man Who Cried (2001)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:68
Fresh:24
Rotten:44
Average Rating:4.8/10
Consensus: The storyline is overwrought and awkward, and the audience is distanced from the flatly drawn characters.
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis:
The year is 1927. A little Jewish girl (Fegele) lives happily with her father, a cantor, and her grandmother in a Russian village. But with the ever-present threat of persecution, her father leaves...
The year is 1927. A little Jewish girl (Fegele) lives happily with her father, a cantor, and her grandmother in a Russian village. But with the ever-present threat of persecution, her father leaves for America to find work and then send for his family. Soon after he leaves, violence engulfs the village. Fegele is bundled off with some fleeing villagers who hope to get to America, but she ends up on a boat to England.
Fegele is re-named Suzie, sent to a Christian foster home and to a school where she is forbidden to speak Yiddish but learns to sing. Ten years later she leaves England for Paris, where she becomes a chorus girl and befriends an ambitious blonde Russian dancer, Lola. She starts to save, hoping to earn enough money to pay for her passage to America. Together Lola and Suzie find jobs in the new opera company of impresario Felix Perlman.
Suzie falls in love with gypsy horse-handler Cesar, while Lola falls for Dante Dominio, an arrogant Italian opera singer. When the German army invades Paris, Dante, with Lola at his side, immediately collaborates with the Nazis, while Suzie joins Cesar and his band of gypsy musicians.
The Nazis have plans to round up the Jews and Gypsies. When Dante betrays Suzie, Lola decides to leave him: she tells Suzie that she will help them both get out. Suzie wants to stay and fight but Cesar encourages her to leave. Suzie is heartbroken, but eventually agrees.
In the mid-Atlantic the ship to America is bombed. Suzie is rescued but Lola drowns.
Once in America, Suzie continues her search for her father, which finally leads her to Hollywood... -- © 2001 Universal Focus
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, John Turturro, Cate Blanchett
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, John Turturro, Cate Blanchett, Harry Dean Stanton, Oleg Yankovsky, Miriam Karlin, Pablo Veron
Director: Sally Potter
Director: Sally Potter
Screenwriter: Sally Potter
Producer: Christopher Sheppard, Simona Benzakein
Studio: Universal Focus
Reviews for The Man Who Cried
Ricci ... can't hold audience interest for more than about five minutes, especially when she's stuck with material as superficial and slow-moving as this period drama.
A sprawling affair, filled with bad accents ... tired cliches about studly horsemen and young girls' sexual awakenings, and really bad lip-syncing to Italian opera.
There's hardly a moment that feels authentic. Maybe that's why the man is crying.
The beginning is a cheat, the ending an absurdity, and virtually everything in between an inanity.
Paired, [Ricci and Depp] stare the film down, right down into the ground.
Potter eschews drama for posing, politics for postulating, and provides enough symbolic broad strokes to gag a magic realist.
It's as though we're being dared not to take the movie seriously, although nothing but the pre-Holocaust setting compels you to do so.
The sort of film that has Americans adopting various European accents, not always in a convincing fashion.
Christina Ricci has top billing, but The Man Who Cried is Cate Blanchett's movie.
It all won't be enough to convince Potter's critics, but the lush images that she assembles have a fascination.
There's only one performer in the movie who looks completely at ease with what he's doing: the horse.
More DVDs
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 14% 14% | The Ugly Truth |
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 86% 86% | A Christmas Tale |
| 60% 60% | Paper Heart |
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Sponsored Links
Around The Network
- The Man Who Cried at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Man Who Cried at AskMen
Fresh Links
Featured

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.





