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Gloomy Sunday (Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod) (2003)

tomatometer

84

Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 64
Fresh: 54 | Rotten: 10

Gloomy Sunday is beautiful, well-acted, and every bit as downcast as its title.

81

Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 16
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 3

Gloomy Sunday is beautiful, well-acted, and every bit as downcast as its title.

audience

91

liked it
Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 4,670

My Rating

Movie Info

Rolf Schuebel makes his directorial debut with this subtly-told true story about one the 1930s' most memorable melodies. Set just prior to WWII, the film focuses on Hungarian beauty Ilona (Erika Marozsan) and her significant other Laszlo Szabo (Joachim Krol), a dapper owner of Budapest's finest restaurant. Though Ilona is known for her prowess on the piano, the two decide to hire a professional as the finishing touch on their classy establishment. They hire Andras (Stefano Dionisi), a taciturn

Sep 12, 2006

$0.2M

Menemsha

Cast

All Critics (72) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (55) | Rotten (10) | DVD (4)

It's intelligent, well-acted and beautifully photographed.

May 12, 2005 Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | Comment
Arizona Republic
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A superior soap opera not unlike what Douglas Sirk might have churned out in the 1950s.

December 3, 2004 Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | Comment
Sacramento Bee
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Its old-fashioned romanticism is heady, and the relationships among the characters are intriguing.

February 20, 2004 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | Comment
Orlando Sentinel
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It has enough opulent, oversized romanticism to make it a guilty pleasure, not to mention three attractive and appealing characters and, of course, that song.

December 19, 2003 Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | Comment
Detroit Free Press
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It's a stirring and provocative affirmation of the power and resilience of love.

December 11, 2003 Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | Comment
Dallas Morning News
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Gloomy Sunday has a mood and a magic about it that elicit emotion from the beginning and make an audience follow it down its curving and melancholy path.

December 5, 2003 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
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With the Hungarian song "Gloomy Sunday" as its thematic centerpiece, this personalized story of Budapest during World War II becomes a satisfying romantic drama about four divergently different people.

May 13, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | Comment
ColeSmithey.com

Undoubtedly deserves to be added to the ranks of the best Holocaust films ever made.

May 2, 2007 Full Review Source: Princeton Town Topics | Comment
Princeton Town Topics

It's old-fashioned, sometimes accomplished, syrupy and, at its intermittent best, absorbing.

April 20, 2007 Full Review Source: Oregonian | Comment
Oregonian

Like many European films, GLOOMY SUNDAY has crisp cinematography and gorgeous production design, not to mention that hauntingly melancholic titular tune. The principal actors, for the most part, are attractive and talented. The movie apes the traditi

January 11, 2007 Full Review Source: Murphy's Movie Reviews | Comment
Murphy's Movie Reviews

This strange movie has a hard time balancing all these elements, but the film's enormous passion overcomes its more obvious melodrama.

October 5, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Combustible Celluloid

...exudes joy and heartbreak and a good deal of pure, unadulterated sensuality.

September 10, 2006 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

It's hard to say which is more ravishing and alluring in the movie, Ms. Marozsan or the celebrated song.

September 10, 2006 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

A smoothly crafted, intermittently charming film . . . the dips and turns are predictable and the tense scenes surrounding unhinged or scheming Nazis have been done before.

May 6, 2005 Comment
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

It's a film worth seeking out, a good fit for a rainy Saturday or any other less-than-bright day of the week.

April 18, 2005 Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | Comment
EricDSnider.com

This is the kind of material you expect to find in a Lifetime cable-channel movie.

April 15, 2005 Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | Comment
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

It's a cracking good yarn, well-told and impeccably acted, especially by Król.

April 14, 2005 Comment
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Gloomy Sunday (Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod)

creaky melodrama

July 1, 2007
brooklynspo

Super Reviewer

Seeing its high rating and believing it to be factual, I pounced upon it. But no sooner did the movie begin I found the proceedings to be too good to be true. And so it obviously was. The factual events are finely woven in this drama. I'd have enjoyed it more had it been without certain scenes. But having seen it, I

October 30, 2011
imrealgod

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod (DE)
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