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

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All Critics
Top Critics

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.

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.

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

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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

R, 1 hr. 52 min.

Art House & International, Drama

Directed By: Rolf Sch�bel

Written By: Rolf Sch�bel, Ruth Thoma Andrews

In Theaters: Nov 14, 2003 Limited

On DVD: Sep 12, 2006

Box Office:$0.2M

Menemsha

Cast

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

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

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Richard Nilsen

Arizona Republic

Top Critic

A superior soap opera not unlike what Douglas Sirk might have churned out in the 1950s.

December 3, 2004 Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee

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Joe Baltake

Sacramento Bee

Top Critic

Its old-fashioned romanticism is heady, and the relationships among the characters are intriguing.

February 20, 2004 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel

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Jay Boyar

Orlando Sentinel

Top Critic

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

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Terry Lawson

Detroit Free Press

Top Critic

It's a stirring and provocative affirmation of the power and resilience of love.

December 11, 2003 Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News

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Philip Wuntch

Dallas Morning News

Top Critic

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

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Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

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

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Cole Smithey

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

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Kam Williams

Princeton Town Topics

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

April 20, 2007 Full Review Source: Oregonian

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Shawn Levy

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

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Ted Murphy

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

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

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

September 10, 2006 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

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John J. Puccio

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

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John J. Puccio

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

Brian Gibson

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

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Eric D. Snider

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

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Jeff Vice

Deseret News, Salt Lake City

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

April 14, 2005 Comment

Mary-Liz Shaw

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

More Critic Reviews

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

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creaky melodrama

July 1, 2007

Bob Stinson

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