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Beloved

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Beloved (1998)

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Reviews Counted:66

Fresh:51

Rotten:15

Average Rating:7/10

Consensus: A powerful, emotional and successful film adaptation of the original novel.

Runtime: 2 hrs 52 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: With the startling, engrossing world of Beloved, director Jonathan Demme returns to the big screen following his Academy Award-winning work on The Silence of the Lambs and the emotional power of... With the startling, engrossing world of Beloved, director Jonathan Demme returns to the big screen following his Academy Award-winning work on The Silence of the Lambs and the emotional power of Philadelphia to craft a story of singular emotional impact. Academy Award nominee Oprah Winfrey stars with Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise and Beah Richards in this compelling story adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison. Beloved translates to the screen with its visceral daring intact, thoroughly immersing viewers in the haunting, haunted landscape of this story.

Oprah Winfrey, for whom Beloved is the ultimate labor of love, appears in her first starring feature film role since earning an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in The Color Purple, with a performance of undeniable fearlessness. Winfrey optioned the rights to Beloved upon its publication and nurtured the project for nearly a decade, personally shepherding it to its current incarnation as one of the most anticipated motion picture events of the year.

Winfrey stars as Sethe, a woman of elemental grace and unspoken mystery. A figure of fierce determination, Sethe is a runaway slave struggling to carve out her own simple existence with her children in rural Ohio, 1873. Preventing her from achieving that, however, is the painful legacy of her former life, and the desperate measures to which she is driven to keep herself and her family from returning to it.

Danny Glover stars as Paul D, an old friend who comes to visit Sethe and whose understanding is tested by her household's shattering secrets. Kimberly Elise portrays Sethe's daughter, Denver, an embattled young woman who must free herself from the crippling grasp that her mother's choices have on her. And Thandie Newton is Beloved. As Beloved grows to become part of Sethe's family, her devastating presence threatens to destroy the delicate balance of Sethe and Denver's existence. [More]

Starring: Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise

Starring: Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise, Beah Richards, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Albert Hall, Irma P. Hall

Director: Jonathan Demme

Director: Jonathan Demme
Screenwriter: Akosua Busia, Richard LaGravenese, Adam Brooks
Producer: Jonathan Demme, Oprah Winfrey, Gary Goetzman, Edward Saxon, Kate Forte
Composer: Rachel Portman

[See More Credits]

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Release:

May 18, 1999

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Beloved
  • Oprah Winfrey (THE COLOR PURPLE) and Danny Glover (LETHAL WEAPON IV, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS) play the unforgettable lead roles in a powerful, widely acclaimed cinematic triumph from Jonathan Demme -- the Academy Award(R)-winning director of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. On a difficult journey to find freedom, Sethe (Winfrey) is constantly confronted by the secrets that have haunted her for years. Then, an old friend from out of her past (Glover) unexpectedly reenters her life. With his help, Sethe may finally be able to rediscover who she is and regain her lost sense of hope. Also featuring outstanding performances from Thandie Newton (GRIDLOCK'D) and Lisa Gay Hamilton (TV's THE PRACTICE) -- you'll agree with critics everywhere who've hailed this landmark adaptation of Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel as one of the year's finest films!
  • Source: Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for Beloved

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    1 - 20 (sorted by source)
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    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Aisle Seat | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Mike McGranaghan
    Mike McGranaghan
    Aisle Seat

    Offers both a rare glimpse into African Americans' struggle for survival and happiness in the late 1800's, as well as a mystifying story of ghosts and haunting.

    Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Diane Selkirk
    Diane Selkirk
    Apollo Guide

    Like a great book, Beloved builds up, through accretion of detail, so much information and revelation that we begin to live the lives with these people.

    comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Bob Fenster
    Bob Fenster
    Arizona Republic
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    The performances of all the central and secondary characters match the passionate intensity of the film's behind-the-scenes collaborators.

    Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Marjorie Baumgarten
    Marjorie Baumgarten
    Austin Chronicle
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
    03/24/02
    Boston Phoenix

    Mournful and moving, eerie and uncompromising.

    Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
    06/05/02
    L.J. Strom
    L.J. Strom
    Boxoffice Magazine

    A first-rate adaptation!

    comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Lawrence Toppman
    Lawrence Toppman
    Charlotte Observer

    I was sometimes confused about events as they happened, but all the pieces are there, and the film creates an emotional whole.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Roger Ebert
    Roger Ebert
    Chicago Sun-Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Beloved is a movie that swims in your bloodstream, echoes through your bones!

    comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Michael Wilmington
    Michael Wilmington
    Chicago Tribune
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Much of the acting is solid, but earnest performances can't give the picture all the bite and excitement it sorely needs.

    Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    David Sterritt
    David Sterritt
    Christian Science Monitor

    It is sure to be studied, debated and cherished decades from now when Americans look to film for insights on who we are and where we have been.

    Full Review Source: Cincinnati Enquirer | comment Comment
    10/15/02
    Margaret A. McGurk
    Margaret A. McGurk
    Cincinnati Enquirer

    ... the best movie of 1998...

    Full Review Source: Cinemaphile.org | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    David Keyes
    David Keyes
    Cinemaphile.org

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Cinematter | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Madeleine Williams
    Madeleine Williams
    Cinematter

    This is a good, if not great, film!

    comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Ben Williams
    Ben Williams
    Citysearch

    This screeching, grotesque display of shattered human dignity is about as subtle as five or ten thousand kicks in the head from a mule, with the kicks getting exceedingly baroque as the movie progresses.

    Full Review Source: CNN.com | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Paul Tatara
    Paul Tatara
    CNN.com

    Demme masterfully exhibits both the harsh realities of the time with the unexplainable mystical world that settles in and around them like a fog, even if he has trouble making the two elements mesh.

    Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
    10/11/02
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Combustible Celluloid
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Harvey S. Karten
    Harvey S. Karten
    Compuserve

    cathartic and affirming

    Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Arthur Lazere
    Arthur Lazere
    culturevulture.net

    After next March, new editions of the book will boast a different kind of label – one that says 'Now an Oscar-winning motion picture.'

    Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment 1 Comment
    01/01/00
    Chris Vognar
    Chris Vognar
    Dallas Morning News
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    There are many strengths, including the cinematography, sound design and a hauntingly allusive score.

    comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Steven Rosen
    Steven Rosen
    Denver Post
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic
     
     
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