Top 50 Actresses, #28 - Meryl Streep: "Sophie's Choice" (1982)

Movie Stats:
Released 1982 (USA)
American, in English (lots of German & Polish, mostly translated)
Director - Alan J. Pakula
Stars - Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Peter MacNicol

Plot Summary:
Set in 1940s Brooklyn, when aspiring writer Stingo (MacNicol) takes a room in a boarding house, he becomes embroiled in the tumultuous relationship of his neighbors, Sophie (Streep) and Nathan (Kline).

Warnings:
Lots of blue language, including racial epithets; minor violence (mostly off-screen and/or referenced); heavily implied sexy times.

Bad Stuff:
I didn’t care for the intermittent narration. Honestly, it’s a bit histrionic/overblown.

MacNicol is a glaring weak link in the cast. He’s so “meh” that almost anyone could have played Stingo. And while we’re on the subject of Stingo, that’s such a distractingly dumb name. You never learn his real name, or where the nickname came from. Every time I heard it, I felt a frisson of irritation.

The occasional crude sex language seems out of tune with the rest of the film.

Good Stuff:
Streep and Kline are excellent. I thought Kline was particularly good.

I like that it explores how complex people and their relationships can be. Sophie isn’t just an innocent victim of the Holocaust. She’s a human being who behaved in ways both cowardly and brave, who had to make tough decisions, and who suffered for those decisions. Nathan is the man who saved her, but also the man who torments her. They probably shouldn’t be together, and yet you understand why they are.

I appreciate that it showcases an experience of the Holocaust that isn’t the Jewish experience. The fact that others—gays/lesbians, political dissidents, people with mental or physical disabilities, gypsies, etc.—were also exterminated by the Nazis is often overlooked in public conversation.

About the Performance:
Streep is great in this. She’s one of those actresses whom everyone seems to love and who’s received numerous accolades. While I’ve always liked her well enough, I never quite understood the extensive praise. She typically doesn’t “wow” me. However, I think this is a “wow” performance. She makes Sophie, a person whose choices could easily make her unlikable to an audience, a truly sympathetic character. Also, I’m not Polish, so I won’t claim that her accent is phenomenal, but I found it rather convincing.

Other performances of Streep’s I’ve reviewed: The Hours; A.I. Artificial Intelligence; Out of Africa; Kramer vs. Kramer; The Deer Hunter.

The Verdict:
This film excels at story telling. It’s definitely not chock-full of excitement. It’s mostly a character study of Stingo, Sophie, and Nathan with lots and lots of talking. It could easily be boring. And yet, I didn’t find myself bored. The story and the characters of Sophie & Nathan were interesting enough to keep me engaged. The worst part of it is Stingo, who’s a very blah character, a fact that isn’t helped by MacNicol’s blah performance. Plus, it’s an unrelentingly sad film. Don’t expect to be uplifted by the ending. Ultimately, though, I felt that this movie was both deeply moving and tragically beautiful. I liked it.

I give it 4.25 stars.