Sophie's Choice

Play trailer

Sophie's Choice

R

1982

2h 31m

Drama

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

75%

Tomatometer

44 Reviews

85%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Stingo (Peter MacNicol), a young writer, moves to Brooklyn in 1947 to begin work on his first novel. As he becomes friendly with Sophie (Meryl Streep) and her lover Nathan (Kevin Kline), he learns that Sophie is a Holocaust survivor. Flashbacks reveal her harrowing story, from pre-war prosperity to Auschwitz. In the present, Sophie and Nathan's relationship increasingly unravels as Stingo grows closer to Sophie and Nathan's fragile mental state becomes ever more apparent.

Watch on Fandango

Stream Now

Critics Consensus

Sophie's Choice may be more sobering than stirring, but Meryl Streep's Oscar-winning performance holds this postwar period drama together.

Read Critics Reviews

Pauline Kael

The New Yorker

09/19/2023

An infuriatingly bad movie.

Go to Full Review

Bob Thomas

Associated Press

11/12/2018

Sophie's Choice is a rare film, literate, deeply moving and gifted with an absolutely awe-inspiring performance by Meryl Streep.

Go to Full Review

Stanley Kauffmann

The New Republic

01/09/2018

In other ways the film is just as unsatisfactory as the book, because it's inseparably strapped to basic flaws. The story has no center, no protagonist. To whom does the action of the novel happen?

Go to Full Review

Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

Apr 27

3/4

Streep has what can only be called a commanding fragility.

Go to Full Review

Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

06/22/2024

2.5/5

Meryl Streep's performance is brilliant but too often back-benched by writer-director Alan J. Pakula's pokey, misguided adaptation of William Styron’s novel.

Go to Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

09/07/2020

9/10

It's both crushing and triumphant.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Tim S.

@RottenTim May 25

Meryl Streep earned her Oscar! Brilliant performance! A choice no mother should ever have to make.

See more

Jono B.

@jberssen Apr 20

I was so glad I got to see this film. I’ve been wanting to see this since I was a kid Meryl Streep does a fabulous job all the acting and directing I think is well done sometimes it moves a little slow and a little long, but otherwise a great film.

See more

Orange C

@Traveler3187 Mar 25

It's boring, pointless movie.

See more

rex W

@RT11010153 Feb 25

Sophie makes two choices in the film: her choice at Auschwitz and her choice between her two lovers. I was really only interested in her choice at Auschwitz. Meryl Steep's clinical, calculating, structured performance is exceptional.

See more

Jim S

@JimStrong3 Feb 15

Powerhouse acting all around by all three leads, especially Meryl Streep, who performs a high-wire act of balancing mood, emotion, tricky accents, and foreign languages in an absolutely spellbinding performance.

See more

Wendy V

@MinhPlumb Feb 6

I heard about this movie for years, decades actually. I never watched it because I thought I knew too much about it. It was not what I expected. It was worth all the hype. The perfect movie. Heartbreaking.

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

Alan J. Pakula

Director

Meryl Streep

Sophie

Kevin Kline

Nathan

Peter MacNicol

Stingo

Josef Sommer

Narrator

Rita Karin

Yetta

Sophie's Choice: Official Clip - The Resistance

1:39

Sophie's Choice: Official Clip - Free My Little Boy

2:07

Sophie's Choice: Official Clip - I Can't Choose!

2:13

Sophie's Choice: Official Clip - An Enemy of the Reich

2:04

Sophie's Choice: Official Clip - Remembering Josef

1:45

Sophie's Choice: Official Clip - A Flight From Memory

2:13

Sophie's Choice: Official Clip - Scars

1:54

Sophie's Choice: Official Clip - Extermination

1:42

Sophie's Choice: Official Clip - New Friends

2:00

Sophie's Choice: Official Clip - The Land of the Living

2:09

View more videos

Zandalee

33%

29%

Zandalee

Watchlist

Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession

46%

74%

Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession

Watchlist

Silkwood

78%

79%

Silkwood

Watchlist

Heartburn

48%

46%

Heartburn

Watchlist

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

70%

79%

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Watch Online: The Walking Dead, Bojack Horseman, Dirty Dancing, and More on Netflix and Amazon Prime

Five Favorite Films with Maggie Grace

AFI Announces Top 100 Movies of All Time … Again

View more photos

Synopsis

Stingo (Peter MacNicol), a young writer, moves to Brooklyn in 1947 to begin work on his first novel. As he becomes friendly with Sophie (Meryl Streep) and her lover Nathan (Kevin Kline), he learns that Sophie is a Holocaust survivor. Flashbacks reveal her harrowing story, from pre-war prosperity to Auschwitz. In the present, Sophie and Nathan's relationship increasingly unravels as Stingo grows closer to Sophie and Nathan's fragile mental state becomes ever more apparent.

Director: Alan J. Pakula
Producer: Keith Barish, Alan J. Pakula
Screenwriter: Alan J. Pakula
Production Co: Incorporated Television Company, Keith Barish Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 8, 1982, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 7, 2015
Runtime: 2h 31m

Join The Newsletter

Join The Newsletter

Cookie Settings