NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Sophie's Choice (film)

Sophie's Choice is a 1982 film that tells the story of a beautiful Polish immigrant, Sophie, and her tempestuous lover who share a boarding house with a young writer in Brooklyn. It stars Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Peter MacNicol. Alan J. Pakula directed the movie and wrote the script from a novel by William Styron, also called Sophie's Choice. Image File history File linksMetadata Sophie's_Choice1. ... Alan Jay Pakula (April 7, 1928 - November 19, 1998) was an American film producer, writer and director noted for his contributions to the conspiracy thriller genre. ... William Clark Styron, Jr. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... Mary Louise Streep, mostly known as Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is a two-time Academy Award-winning, six-time Golden Globe-winning, two-time SAG-winning, Grammy Award-nominated and BAFTA Award-winning American actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. ... Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an Academy Award- and Tony Award-winning American stage and film actor. ... Peter MacNicol as John Cage on Ally McBeal Peter MacNicol (born April 10, 1954 in Dallas, Texas) is probably best known among younger TV viewers for his role as the eccentric attorney John Cage, for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in... Universal Pictures is the main motion picture production/distribution arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal. ... Artisan Entertainment was a privately-held independent American movie studio that has been owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, since 2003. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... // January 11 - Production begins on the Star Wars film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. ... Mary Louise Streep, mostly known as Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is a two-time Academy Award-winning, six-time Golden Globe-winning, two-time SAG-winning, Grammy Award-nominated and BAFTA Award-winning American actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. ... Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an Academy Award- and Tony Award-winning American stage and film actor. ... Peter MacNicol as John Cage on Ally McBeal Peter MacNicol (born April 10, 1954 in Dallas, Texas) is probably best known among younger TV viewers for his role as the eccentric attorney John Cage, for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in... Alan Jay Pakula (April 7, 1928 - November 19, 1998) was an American film producer, writer and director noted for his contributions to the conspiracy thriller genre. ... William Clark Styron, Jr. ... Sophies Choice (1979) is a novel written by William Styron about a young American Southerner who wants to be a writer and befriends Nathan, who is Jewish, and his beautiful lover Sophie, a Polish (but non-Jewish) survivor of the Nazi concentration camps. ...

The film won the Academy Award for Best Actress (Meryl Streep) and was nominated for Best Cinematography (Néstor Almendros), Costume Design (Albert Wolsky), Best Music (Marvin Hamlisch), and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Alan J. Pakula). The Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the awards given to actresses working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ... The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is awarded each year to a cinematographer for his work in one particular motion picture. ... NÃ©stor Almendros (born October 30, 1930 â€“ March 4, 1992) was a Spanish cinematographer. ... This Academy Award was first given for movies made in 1948 when separate awards were given for black-and-white and color movies. ... As defined by Rule Sixteen of the Academy Awards Rules, the Academy Award for Original Music Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. ... Marvin Hamlisch (born June 2, 1944) is a successful composer of film scores. ... The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. ...

Plot

In 1947, the movie's narrator, Stingo (MacNicol), a young writer from the American South, travels to post-WW II Brooklyn. He is befriended by Sophie Zawistowska (Streep), a beautiful Polish immigrant, and her lover, Nathan Landau (Kline). It is clear to Stingo from the serial number tattooed into Sophie's forearm that she is no stranger to pain. German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ... Brooklyn (named after the Dutch city Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City. ...

One evening, Stingo talks with Sophie and learns some more about her past: that she was married but her husband and her father were killed in a German work camp. When Stingo notices scars on Sophie's wrists, Sophie explains that after being rescued from Auschwitz she was taken to a refugee camp in Sweden, but whilst there she went to a church, broke a glass, and cut her wrists. Sophie goes into another room where Nathan spends a lot of his time and finds another wine bottle. The walls are covered in images of the Holocaust, prompting Sophie to explain that it is Nathan's obsession. Auschwitz, in English, commonly refers to the Auschwitz concentration camp complex built near the town of Oświęcim, by Nazi Germany during World War II. Rarely, it may refer to the Polish town of Oświęcim (called by the Germans Auschwitz) itself. ... ...

Sophie and Nathan's relationship is endangered both by Sophie's ghosts and Nathan's obsession with the Holocaust, as well as his violent temper and increasingly apparent mental illness. When Stingo visits a man who knew Sophie's father, he discovers she's been lying to him. He learns that Sophie's father, a Polish college professor, hated Jews. Later, when Stingo talks to Sophie about this, she explains, with more about her past emerging through a series of harrowing flashbacks.

Sophie reveals that in the winter of 1938, her father was working on a speech he called "Poland's Jewish Problem". In a flashback, Sophie listens to a recording of a man speaking in both German and Polish, whilst she is typing a speech for her father. While typing, she hears a word repeated several times that she has never heard before. She goes back a bit, and hears the voice say that the solution for "Poland's Jewish Problem" is "extermination". Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Jewish question, referred to the question of the ability of Jews to integrate within Western Europe. ...

Something makes Sophie go to the Jewish ghetto, where she looks at all the people her father has condemned to die. She suddenly remembers that her father is waiting for his speech and hurries home to finish the typing. In her haste, Sophie makes a lot of mistakes and hurries to university. Her father reads the speech in front of a large crowd of people and becomes very angry. A ghetto is an area where people from a specific ethnic background or united in a given culture or religion live as a group, voluntarily or involuntarily, in milder or stricter seclusion. ...

Later, Sophie has a lover, Józef, who lives with his half-sister, Wanda, a leader in the Resistance. Wanda tries to convince Sophie to translate some stolen Gestapo documents, but fearing she may endanger her children, she declines. Two weeks later, Józef is murdered by the Gestapo, and a short time later Sophie is arrested and sent to Auschwitz with her children. Upon arrival, the Germans decide who will live and who will die. Jan, Sophie's son, is sent to the children's camp, and her daughter, Eva, is sent to her death in Crematorium Two. This article or section includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...

Sophie later learns of an epidemic in the children's camp, and becomes concerned for her son's well-being. She convinces the Commandant to let him into the Lebensborn programme. He relents and tells Sophie she will see him the next day. However, when she tries to steal a radio belonging to the Commandant's daughter at the behest of another prisoner, she is caught red-handed. The Commandant breaks his promise about letting Sophie see her son, leaving her never knowing what happened to him. A Lebensborn birth house Lebensborn (Fount of Life, in German) was a child welfare and relocation program initiated by Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler to aid the racial heredity of the Third Reich. ...

Back in the present, Nathan asks Sophie to marry him and she accepts. Stingo feels betrayed, as he is falling in love with Sophie, but agrees to be Nathan's best man. When Nathan goes into another of his violent moods, Sophie runs to Stingo. At this point, Nathan makes a threatening phone-call which ends with the sound of a gun firing, and Nathan making more threats. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...

Stingo and Sophie flee and check into a hotel. Stingo insists that they start a family, but Sophie has yet to tell him her final secret - her choice. She recounts the night she arrived at Auschwitz with her children, and of how a Nazi officer forced her to choose life for one child, and death for the other. Auschwitz, in English, commonly refers to the Auschwitz concentration camp complex built near the town of Oświęcim, by Nazi Germany during World War II. Rarely, it may refer to the Polish town of Oświęcim (called by the Germans Auschwitz) itself. ...

Despite her plea of "Don't make me choose. I can't choose", Sophie's words fall on deaf ears. When a young Nazi is told to take both children away, she releases her daughter, shouting "Take my little girl!". Sophie can only watch as the screaming little girl is carried away to die, her guilt and despair all too clear. Once she has told him, Sophie asks Stingo not to talk about marriage and children.

They sleep together that night, but Stingo wakes up alone. Sophie has left him a note, saying she has gone back to Nathan, but that he is a great lover. Stingo later goes back to the building where he met Sophie and Nathan, only to find everybody in a state of shock. Stingo is led up to Sophie and Nathan's room where he finds they have committed suicide. Picking up Nathan's book of Emily Dickinson poems, Stingo recites "Ample Make This Bed", as if he were delivering a eulogy at a funeral. This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

The film ends with Stingo leaving Brooklyn, the screen going misty, and an image of Sophie's face fading into view.

Production

Meryl Streep wished strongly that she be given the leading role in the film. After she obtained a pirated copy of the script, she went to Alan J. Pakula and threw herself on the ground begging to give her the part.^[1] Sophie's Choice was Kevin Kline's movie debut. In preparation for the role, Meryl Streep not only learned a Polish accent--she also learned to speak Polish and German. William Styron wrote the novel with Ursula Andress in mind for the part of Sophie. Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss actress and a major sex symbol of the 1960s. ...

Cast

Mary Louise Streep, mostly known as Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is a two-time Academy Award-winning, six-time Golden Globe-winning, two-time SAG-winning, Grammy Award-nominated and BAFTA Award-winning American actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. ... Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an Academy Award- and Tony Award-winning American stage and film actor. ... Peter MacNicol as John Cage on Ally McBeal Peter MacNicol (born April 10, 1954 in Dallas, Texas) is probably best known among younger TV viewers for his role as the eccentric attorney John Cage, for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in... Polish-born actress who is best know for her role as Jackie Mason (qv)s mother on the TV series Chicken Soup, which also starred Lynn Redgrave, and as the Brooklyn landlady who appears at the beginning of the movie Sophies Choice, which, of course, starred Kevin Kline (qv... Josh Mostel (December 21, 1946, New York, New York) is an American actor who is most known for his roles in Jesus Christ Superstar and two Adam Sandler films. ...

Reception

Sophie's Choice won the Academy Award for Best Actress (Meryl Streep) and was nominated for Best Cinematography (Néstor Almendros), Costume Design (Albert Wolsky), Best Music (Marvin Hamlisch), and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Alan J. Pakula). The film was also ranked #1 in the Roger Ebert's Top Ten List for 1982. The Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the awards given to actresses working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ... The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is awarded each year to a cinematographer for his work in one particular motion picture. ... NÃ©stor Almendros (born October 30, 1930 â€“ March 4, 1992) was a Spanish cinematographer. ... This Academy Award was first given for movies made in 1948 when separate awards were given for black-and-white and color movies. ... As defined by Rule Sixteen of the Academy Awards Rules, the Academy Award for Original Music Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. ... Marvin Hamlisch (born June 2, 1944) is a successful composer of film scores. ... The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. ... Each year since 1967 (excluding 2006,[1] due to illness), Roger Ebert has released a top 10 list of his favorite movies from the current year. ...

Trivia

The movie happens to be a favourite of wrestler and best-selling author Mick Foley, who has made reference to it in his first two autobiographies as well as in a wrestling promo. Mick Foley Sr. ...

See also

The is an index of all the films that deal with the Holocaust period in Europe approximately 1938-1945. ...

Citations

Time, (whose trademark is capitalized TIME) is a weekly American newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the CE era. ... March 28 is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

v • d • e

Films starring Meryl Streep

Julia (1977) • The Deer Hunter (1978) • Manhattan (1979) • The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979) • Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) • The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) • Sophie's Choice (1982) • Silkwood (1983) • Falling in Love (1984) • Out of Africa (1985) • Plenty (1985) • Heartburn (1986) • Ironweed (1987) • A Cry in the Dark (1988) • She-Devil (1989) • Defending Your Life (1991) • Death Becomes Her (1992) • Postcards from the Edge (1993) • The House of Spirits (1994) • The River Wild (1994) • The Bridges of Madison County (1995) • Marvin's Room (1996) • One True Thing (1998) • Music of the Heart (1999) • The Hours (2002) • Adaptation. (2002) • The Manchurian Candidate (2004) • Prime (2005) • A Prairie Home Companion (2006) • The Devil Wears Prada (2006) • Dark Matter (2007) • Evening (2007) • Mamma Mia! (2008) • The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... All Movie Guide is a commercial database of information about movie stars, movies and television shows. ... Mary Louise Streep, mostly known as Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is a two-time Academy Award-winning, six-time Golden Globe-winning, two-time SAG-winning, Grammy Award-nominated and BAFTA Award-winning American actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. ... Julia is a 1977 dramatic film based on playwright Lillian Hellmans novel Pentimento, which tells the story of her relationship with her lifelong friend Julia, who worked as an anti-fascist in the years prior to World War II. The movie was adapted by Alvin Sargent from the novel. ... For the band, see Deerhunter. ... Manhattan is a 1979 romantic comedy film. ... The Seduction of Joe Tynan is a 1979 political film comedy-drama made by Universal Pictures, directed by Jerry Schatzberg and produced by Martin Bregman. ... Kramer vs. ... The French Lieutenants Woman is a 1981 film directed by Karel Reisz and adapted by playwright Harold Pinter. ... Silkwood is a 1983 film which tells the true story of Karen Silkwood, who died under suspicious circumstances while investigating wrongdoings at the Kerr-McGee plutonium plant where she worked. ... Falling in love is a mainly Western term used to describe the process of moving from a feeling of neutrality towards someone, to one of love. ... In 1985, the film Out of Africa was released, based loosely on the autobiographical book by Isak Dinesen published in 1937, as well as Dinesens Shadows on the Grass and other sources. ... Plenty is a 1985 movie starring Meryl Streep, Charles Dance, Tracey Ullman, John Gielgud, Sting, Ian McKellen, Sam Neill and Burt Kwouk. ... Ironweed is a 1987 film based on the novel by William Kennedy and tells the story of an alcoholic, wandering man and woman during the Great Depression. ... A Cry in the Dark (US and Europe title) or Evil Angels (Australian title) is a film (1988 release) based on the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain, a ten-week-old baby girl who went missing from a campground near Uluru (Ayers Rock) on 17 August 1980. ... She-Devil is a 1989 film starring Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr. ... DVD cover of Defending Your Life (1991) Defending Your Life is a 1991 comedy fantasy movie about the afterlife. ... Death Becomes Her is a 1992 black comedy fantasy film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep and Bruce Willis. ... Postcards from the Edge is a 1990 movie which is based on the fictionalized autobiographical book by Carrie Fisher about her relationship with her mother, Debbie Reynolds, and her own drug addiction. ... The House of Spirits is the first novel written by Isabel Allende. ... The River Wild is a 1994 American thriller film directed by Curtis Hanson and starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, David Strathairn, John C. Reilly, and Joseph Mazzello. ... The Bridges of Madison County is a 1995 film based on the best-selling novel by Robert James Waller. ... Marvins Room is a play by Scott McPherson which tells the story of a man who had a stroke 17 years ago and has spent all of the time vegetating in his bedroom. ... One True Thing is a band that started in the 1990s and they rock like ive never heard before and there lead singer is incredibly hot. ... Music of the Heart DVD Cover Music of the Heart is a 1999 dramatic film. ... The Hours is a 2002 Academy Award winning film drama about three women of different generations and times whose lives are interconnected by the novel Mrs. ... Adaptation. ... The Manchurian Candidate is a 2004 American film based on the 1959 novel The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon, and a reimagining of the previous 1962 film. ... Prime is a 2005 American romantic comedy film starring Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep. ... A Prairie Home Companion (previously known as The Last Broadcast) is a 2006 ensemble comedy film elegy directed by Robert Altman, his final film released just five months before his death. ... The Devil Wears Prada is an Academy Award-nominated 2006 comedy-drama film, a loose screen adaptation of Lauren Weisbergers 2003 novel of the same name. ... Dark Matter is the first feature film by opera director Chen Shi-zheng, starring Liu Ye, Aidan Quinn and Meryl Streep. ... Evening is a 2007 drama film based on the book by Susan Minot. ... Mamma Mia! is an upcoming film adaptation of the West End musical of the same name based on the songs of ABBA. The title of the film is taken from the groups 1975 chart-topper Mamma Mia. It will be produced by Universal Studios in partnership with Playtone and...

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Films directed by Alan J. Pakula

The Devil's Own • The Pelican Brief • Consenting Adults • Presumed Innocent • See You in the Morning • Orphans • Dream Lover • Sophie's Choice • Rollover • Starting Over • Comes a Horseman • All the President's Men • The Parallax View • Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing • Klute • The Sterile Cuckoo Alan Jay Pakula (April 7, 1928 - November 19, 1998) was an American film producer, writer and director noted for his contributions to the conspiracy thriller genre. ... The Devils Own is also a nickname for the Connaught Rangers and of the Inns of Court Regiment The Devils Own is a 1997 movie starring Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, RubÃ©n Blades, Natascha McElhone, and Treat Williams. ... The Pelican Brief is a legal crime thriller based on the novel by the same name written by John Grisham and was adapted into a feature film in 1993, directed by Alan J. Pakula and starring Julia Roberts in the role of young law student Darby Shaw and Denzel Washington... The 1992 thriller Consenting Adults stars Kevin Kline, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Kevin Spacey and Rebecca Miller. ... This article is about the 1990 film. ... See You In The Morning is the third studio album by Mint Royale, which was released in 2005 on the Faith & Hope label. ... Rollover is a 1981 political and financial thriller. ... Starting Over is a 1979 film which tells the story of a recently divorced man (Burt Reynolds) who is torn between his new girlfriend (Jill Clayburgh) and his ex-wife (Candice Bergen). ... Comes a Horseman is a 1978 film with Richard Farnsworth. ... All the Presidents Men is a 1976 film based on the 1974 non-fiction book by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two journalists investigating the Watergate scandal for the Washington Post. ... The Parallax View is a 1974 movie directed by Alan J. Pakula and starring Warren Beatty (who was also a producer), adapted from the novel by Loren Singer. ... Love and Pain And The Whole Damn Thing is a 1973 drama film directed by Alan J. Pakula. ... Klute is a 1971 film which tells the story of a prostitute who assists a detective in solving a mystery. ... The Sterile Cuckoo is a 1969 film which tells the story of a quirky young couple whose relationship deepens despite their differences. ...

Contents

Production

Cast

Reception

Trivia

See also

Citations

External links