Sophie's Choice

Naive writer befriends his neighbours who both harbour dark secrets.

Of course, Sophie's the focal point - her past which influences her present-day relationships to unstable Nathan and Stingo. However dramatic the present narrative gets, the flashbacks to Sophie's time right before and during WWII are the emotional anchor in this movie. It's just a shame that the balance between the flashbacks and the present day events is a bit uneven as the romance/drama starts to drag in the middle... and the end seems inevitable and doesn't carry the emotional punch that the final reveal of Sophie's past does.

So, good movie, very strong performances, but a bit uneven in the pacing.

Paper of Meryl Streep with Oscar included.

Meryl Streep is great but that accent was distracting at first. The flashbacks were way better than the present day stuff. This was too long and slow for most of the present day story.

This is a movie I had heard about in title only - the same way one hears about _Catch 22_ (1970), the reference becomes more popular than the source itself - and after seeing it, I can see why.
First off, great acting here. I mean, come on, Meryl Streep, do I need to say more? The big problem, and I am not the only one to point this out, this is two movies jammed together: we have the story - post WWII - of Sophie, Nathan, and Stingo; by itself, wouldn't be bad as a romantic drama. Then we have the part that was actually interesting: Sophie's time at Auschwitz, and we don't get any of that until we're one hour in, then we barely spend any time. Why?
This is a huge mistake. The title of the story is Sophie's Choice, yet this is told from Stingo's point of view. Yeah, I don't care about him. Where is the movie that is told about Sophie's life, from her perspective? I want to see that.
Anyway, worth a watch if you are into slow, period-piece romantic dramas. Aside from that, truly a waste of time.
Someone has probably made an edit of this that is only Sophie's story, and that would be worth a watch. The titular "choice" moment is all that gives this film any lasting power. Just a pity it takes two and a half hours to get there.
What a giant misstep. Without that "choice" scene, the movie would be a throw away, but it's treated like an afterthought.
I can picture, in my head, a much better movie. It's just a shame we didn't get Sophie's story directly, instead of just glimpses in flashback.

It's a great movie, nice pace that doesn't feel like it was filmed over 30 years ago. It has many layers and gives a lot of thought regarding: "What would I do in their place?" - and even the ending seems positive and reassuring. Every suffering comes to an end. Highly recommend this one. Probably will read the book too.

A real bummer and way too long. Took me a few tries to finish it.