#91: Sophie's Choice (1982)

Oscar Winner: Best Actress (Meryl Streep)

You’ve probably heard the phrase making a, “Sophie’s choice,” quite a bit in every day conversation, but I think it’s interesting that like me, I ‘d never seen the originator of this term up until recently. Unlike movie quotes from The Terminator (“I’ll be back”) or new ideals from The Matrix, most probably don’t know what choice Sophie actually has to make in this film. For some reason I always thought that it dealt with abortion, and although I wasn’t completely off, Sophie’s Choice does deal with heart-wrenching decisions, but are unfortunately underwhelming when the film was finished.

Based on a stage play, a recluse novelist, Stingo (Peter MacNicol), finds refuge in a boarding house full of eccentric characters, including the strange couple Sophie (Meryl Streep) and Nathan (Kevin Kliine). What occurs is a love triangle that at its core is the mysterious history of Sophie and Nathan’s obsessive nature. Sophie is a Holocaust survivor and Nathan is an overly passionate American Jew. These two histories not only affect their own relationship, but those who are around them as well.

This film really consists of two different stories: Sophie’s past and Sophie’s present. The present is the most dominate section, which is unfortunate, because her past is so much more interesting. It’s almost like it’s two different films. Simply put, I was engrossed by one and totally bored by the other. The scenes with Streep, Kline and MacNicol have its moments, but eventually I think it takes up way too much space in the film. Sophie’s past is filmed in a haunting, yet beautiful way, and I couldn't take my eyes off of the screen when these scenes appeared.

Streep is known as one of the best actresses around and this role only builds upon that. If you didn’t know who she was, you could swear that she was actually Austrian in real life. She was more than deserving of her Best Actress Oscar and her portrayal is one of the strongest female roles I’ve ever seen.

Too bad that is overshadowed by the imbalance of this movie. I think it’s a case of when a director doesn’t know what material to let go that he/she may love too much. You have to remember about the audience and too often I was looking at my watch. With a few scenes cut here and there and I could totally justify its place on this list, but I was only left with a so-so feeling despite Streep’s strong performance.

I give Sophie’s Choice 2.5 out of 5 drunken tempers.