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A Quiet Passion

2016

Terence Davies

Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Ehle, Duncan Duff, Keith Carradine ...

6.3

1,929

Drama A film based on the life and work of the great poet Emily Dickinson, born in 1803. She wrote a poem a day, but only a fraction of her output was published throughout her lifetime. She was extremely shy, but with a wry, lively sense of humor and loved to laugh or to be made to laugh. Her friendships were intense but it was within the family that she found her greatest happiness. Her life is one of quiet dignity. The poetry magnificent. ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Deborah Young The Hollywood Reporter	"Despite (...) a valiant effort on the part of Nixon and Davies to externalize the poet’s inner demons (...) the film can’t escape an underlying static quality that extinguishes the flame before it can get burning"	NEU
United States	Guy Lodge Variety	"'A Quiet Passion' boasts meticulous craft and ornate verbiage in abundance, but confines Cynthia Nixon’s melancholia-stricken performance (...) in an emotional straitjacket (...) a missed opportunity"	NEU
United Kingdom	Geoffrey Macnab The Independent	"An exceptional film with a searing central performance from Cynthia Nixon (...) This is a very faithful recreation of Dickinson’s world but it never feels stolid (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of five)"	POS
United Kingdom	Andrew Pulver The Guardian	"In this it must be said Nixon does a brilliant job (...) Above all, though, it is Davies’ ability to invest even the most apparently-humdrum moments with some form of intense radiance that sustains his film (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of five)"	POS
United States	Jessica Kiang IndieWire	"An overweeningly precious misfire (...) We get nothing of Emily's inner life, no glimpse of the place where all that extraordinary poetry came from"	NEG
United States	Richard Brody The New Yorker	"An absolute drop-dead masterwork (...) It’s funny—not just clever or wry but uproarious, outrageous, hysterical..."	POS
United States	Ignatiy Vishnevetsky AV Club	"Though it boasts a couple of very fine performances from Cynthia Nixon (as Dickinson) and Keith Carradine (as her father), 'A Quiet Passion' is hampered by being too long and repetitive."	NEU
United Kingdom	Lee Marshall Screendaily	"British auteur Terence Davies takes what is known of the poet’s life and turns it into a series of carefully poised dramatic tableaux (...) A deeply literary film."	POS
United States	Keith Uhlich Slant	"A bold and brilliant study of the American poet Emily Dickinson (...) [It] doesn't lack for density of theme, allusion, and effect."	POS

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