Byzantium (2013)
TOMATOMETER
Critics Consensus: Director Neil Jordan remains as expert as ever when it comes to setting a chilling mood, but Byzantium struggles to match its creepily alluring atmosphere with a suitably compelling story.
Critics Consensus: Director Neil Jordan remains as expert as ever when it comes to setting a chilling mood, but Byzantium struggles to match its creepily alluring atmosphere with a suitably compelling story.
Trailer
Photos
ADVERTISEMENT
Movie Info
BYZANTIUM is director Neil Jordan's (Interview with the Vampire, The Crying Game) sexy and stylish fantasy thriller about mother and daughter vampires dealing with the pitfalls of eternal life. Two mysterious women seek refuge in a run-down coastal resort. Clara (Gemma Arterton) meets lonely Noel (Daniel Mays), who provides shelter in his deserted guesthouse, Byzantium. Schoolgirl Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan, Hanna, Atonement) befriends Frank (Caleb Landry Jones) and tells him their lethal secret: … More- Rating:
- R (for bloody violence, sexual content and language)
- Genre:
- Drama , Horror , Art House & International , Mystery & Suspense , Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Directed By:
- Neil Jordan
- In Theaters:
- Jun 28, 2013 Limited
- On DVD:
- Oct 29, 2013
- US Box Office:
- $84.3k
Cast
-
Gemma Arterton
as Clara -
Saoirse Ronan
as Eleanor -
Sam Riley
as Darvell -
Jonny Lee Miller
as Ruthven -
Daniel Mays
as Noel -
Caleb Jones
as Frank
Related News & Features
-
Digital Multiplex: Byzantium, Prince Avalanche, and More
– Rotten Tomatoes
Byzantium Videos
Photos
Friend Ratings
No Friends? Inconceivable! Log in to see what your friends have to say.
LoginCritic Reviews for Byzantium
All Critics (104) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (65) | Rotten (39) | DVD (2)
Jordan is no stranger to the yearnings of vampires. He directed Interview With the Vampire. But Byzantium is a kinder, gentler yet pretty durn bloody affair.
Go ahead, bite.
A drama that feels both strenuously earnest and impossible to take seriously.
Byzantium has a few moves that might surprise you. They have nothing to do with blood, but everything to do with the heart.
A confusing yet eye-pleasing tale that struggles to breathe new life into the well-worn mythology.
Neil Jordan's sensitive and very slow exploration of vampire angst. That the film also seems intended as some kind of vampire feminist statement makes it a rare combination of mildly boring and mildly hilarious.
Byzantium is a refreshing take on the vampire genre.
Although audience fatigue regarding vampires has surely set in...this is a romantic, sensual, bloody good time of a movie for sophisticated adults.
As the feature jumps backwards and forwards in time, and stories within stories coalesce, a striking tapestry is woven illustrating a world where eternal beings struggle with great change. Jordan's vampiric universe is bloody, adult, and melancholy.
Clara becomes more the subject of Jordan's empathy than the object of his lust (although there's some of that, too).
It's stylish and gory, with excellent performances and a similarly grim approach to the life of a vampire. And it's not really a scary movie, although, whatever it is, it's a good one.
A gory Gothic thriller whose departures from traditional horror lore give the overworked vampire genre a rejuvenating transfusion of new blood.
There might be some sort of muddled feminist moral to all this, but by the time the overlong Gothic happenings conclude (with a nicely bloody finale), it's hard to recall what it might have been.
Byzantium is a connoisseur's vampire film; a vintage red.
Jordan's customarily stylish and elegant direction carries the film, and he's aided by the leads' outstanding performances...
With its share of haunting imagery, it's sporadically unsettling but never truly frightening.
New vampire movie lacks bite
This extremely elegant fantasy has roots in a plausible situation: maybe vampires don't exist, but there has been a child or two raised by a wolf...how do such children get their experience into words, get past the shame? Who will believe them?
With a magnetic performance from Saoirse Ronan, a surprisingly excellent performance from Gemma Arterton, and a deliciously peculiar spin on familiar lore, Byzantium is a refreshing take on vampires.
Jordan, true to form, moves fluidly between past and present toward an archly frenetic finale.
Byzantium offers a twist or two on the traditional vampire mythology ... but otherwise [its] gothic atmosphere and air of tragedy feel awfully familiar.
Audience Reviews for Byzantium
Neil Jordan's second Vampire film, much like his first (Interview with a Vampire) is a visual feast. The modern day neon lights contrasting against the candlelit depictions of the early 1800s work brilliantly visually, while the script and story show how life has changed very little in the time between. I'm a big fan of Neil Jordan so it's nice to see the beginnings of a return to form. That might sound harsh but he is one of the best directors working today in my opinion and the films he made in the 90's really did raise the standards. Who would have thought a Vampire film set in Hastings would be so successful? My only criticism would be some of the casting choices. I think Saoirse Ronan is great and I really like Daniel Mays who I believe is woefully underrated. I liked Gemma Arterton less in this but that might have something to do with her car-alarm sounding voice rather than her acting. Sam Riley and Jonny Lee Miller are criminally underused and I really don't know what to make of Caleb Jones yet other than I'm not sure he was right for this part. In conclusion though, a great little alternative Vampire flick.
http://cinephilecrocodile.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/byzantium-dir-neil-jordan-2013-neil.html
Super Reviewer
The film's opening gives the feeling that it has a dark secret to be revealed, layer by layer, as it proceeds. Unfortunately, there's only disappointment in store here. With a generous heart, 1/10 for the promise it makes to be a chilling affair, but fails to tend to, thankfully, without trying too hard!!
MoreSuper Reviewer
Byzantium will test the patience for some horror movie fans, particularly those who enjoy cheap boo scares every two minutes. But if you let this (slightly underdeveloped) story work its magic on you, it has a few pleasantly innovative twists up its sleeve.
MoreSuper Reviewer
3 3/4's--The director does a good job of creating a brooding, dark, and foreboding atmosphere. The storyline keeps you interested, as the story of the two vampires slowly unfolds. I liked how they focused on the human aspect of vampires, and the mythology was different and interesting. I am a vampire movie fan, and I have been getting tired of the teeny bopper vampire genre. This was definitely a step above...
MoreSuper Reviewer
Byzantium Quotes
- Gareth:
- Humans need to tell stories. It's a fundamental and uniting thing. It's through stories that we come to understand ourselves and we come to understand the world.
Discussion Forum
Discuss Byzantium on our Movie forum!