Sophie's Choice (1982)

	Directed by: Alan J. Pakula	COUNTRY USA GENRE Drama NORWEGIAN TITLE Sophies valg RUNNING TIME 157 minutes
	Produced by: Alan J. Pakula Keith Barish
	Written by (based on the novel by William Styron): Alan J. Pakula

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Sophie Zawistowska	Meryl Streep
Nathan Landau	Kevin Kline	½
Stingo	Peter MacNicol

Review

Alan J. Pakula (almost single-handedly) adapted William Styron's multi-layered novel to the screen, and the result was this film that delves into some of the most tragic and complex aspects of WWII. The story follows a young, initially naïve American narrator who becomes entangled with a tightly bound, seemingly self-destructive European couple. While the individual character histories hold interest, Pakula struggles to weave all his thematic strands into a cohesive whole, leaving many of the film’s conclusions and narrative developments feeling forced and unnatural. Kevin Kline's character serves as the main source of suspense, but Kline's performance is overdone, and the character's mysterious past remains frustratingly opaque. Maintaining suspense in a drama like this demands more dynamic pacing than Pakula delivers here. Nevertheless, there are moments of genuine emotional impact – particularly as we're introduced to Meryl Streep’s character and the haunting scene that gives the film its title. But despite the brilliance of Streep’s performance, including an impressively authentic accent, she is rarely supported by Pakula’s somewhat pretentious direction. And the parallel love story involving Peter MacNicol lacks chemistry and fails to ignite, leaving the film struggling under the weight of its own ambitions.