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The Last Letter (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 11
Fresh: 11
Rotten:0
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Rated: Not Rated
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Jan 29, 2003 Limited
Synopsis: In 1941, a Russian Jewish woman doctor lives in a small city in the Ukraine just seized by the Germans. She writes a last letter to her son, a famous Russian physicist who lives and works far from... In 1941, a Russian Jewish woman doctor lives in a small city in the Ukraine just seized by the Germans. She writes a last letter to her son, a famous Russian physicist who lives and works far from the front lines at a Soviet science research institute. She writes the letter a few days before she knows she and the other Jews in the city will be killed by the Germans. She speaks of her life, her relationship to her son, her love for him, her student life in Paris, her failed marriage. She recounts the reaction of her Russian and Ukrainian neighbors to the arrival of the Germans, the various responses of the Jewish community, the cruelty and horrors of the occupation, the help of some Russian neighbors, the greed and indifference of others, and her slow recognition that her Jewish heritage is more important to her than her Russian nationality or Communist ideology. The letter, with its detailed observations of daily life in the ghetto, reveals the fear, courage, frailty, compassion and dignity of this woman as she reviews her life and faces her death. -- © Zipporah Films [More]
Starring: Catherine Samie
Starring: Catherine Samie
Director: Frederick Wiseman
Director: Frederick Wiseman
Studio: Zipporah Films
Reviews for The Last Letter
Samie, a leading light in the highly respected French theatrical academy, the Comedie Francaise, speaks with a broad range of subtlety and outbursts of emotion. And those words are powerful.
First staged by Wiseman with France's acclaimed Comedie-Francaise, it has now been brought to the screen with all its devastating power intact.
It is hard to measure this production by the same standards as a feature film.
Through Catherine Samie's extraordinary performance -- she's an actress with the Comédie-Française -- Wiseman seems to conjure the ghost of a living being, and then to record her stalking.
Mr. Wiseman's stubbornness is manifest in his work, and you will fall for the same quality in The Last Letter if you have any affection for his past work.
In a tour-de-force performance, Samie conveys volumes with her powerful voice.
Primal in its effect, The Last Letter demonstrates the power of language, performance, and narrative to hold an audience spellbound.
Wiseman's spare, elegant presentation does justice to the complex, passionate performance by the Comedie-Française's Catherine Samie.
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