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Incendies (2011)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 7.9/10
Reviews Counted: 114
Fresh: 105 | Rotten: 9

It's messy, overlong, and a touch melodramatic, but those flaws pale before Incendies' impressive acting and devastating emotional impact.

Average Rating: 8/10
Critic Reviews: 30
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 4

It's messy, overlong, and a touch melodramatic, but those flaws pale before Incendies' impressive acting and devastating emotional impact.

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Average Rating: 4.2/5
User Ratings: 12,645

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Movie Info

Director Denis Villeneuve adapts Wajdi Mouawad's play concerning a pair of twins who make a life-altering discovery following the death of their mother. Upon learning that their absentee father is still very much alive and they also have a brother they have never met, the pair travels to the Middle East on a mission to uncover the truth about their mystery-shrouded past. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

R, 2 hr. 10 min.

Drama

Directed By: Denis Villeneuve

In Theaters: Apr 22, 2011 Limited

On DVD: Sep 13, 2011

Box Office:$6.9M

Sony Pictures Classics

Incendies Trailer & Photos

More Photos (7)

Cast

Lubna Azabal
Nawal Marwan
M�lissa D�sormeaux-Poulin
Jeanne Marwan
Maxime Gaudette
Simon Marwan
R�my Girard
Notary Jean Lebel
Abdelghafour Elaaziz
Abou Tarek
Allen Altman
Notary Maddad
Mohammed Majd
Chamseddine
Nabil Sawalha
Fahim
Baya Belal
Maïka, Maika, Ma?ka

Critic Reviews for Incendies

All Critics (114) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (106) | Rotten (10) | DVD (4)

It's a powerful, disturbing film. May there be a day when such works seem less relevant.

May 27, 2011 Full Review Source: Detroit News

| Comment (1)

Tom Long

Detroit News

Top Critic

Rage has no expiration date in Incendies, director Denis Villeneuve's gripping, era-jumping drama about a family melded to its war-torn past.

May 26, 2011 Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News

| Comment

Chris Vognar

Dallas Morning News

Top Critic

It is no surprise that it was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

May 20, 2011 Full Review Source: Washington Post

| Comments (2)

Michael O'Sullivan

Washington Post

Top Critic

"Incendies" is occasionally compelling, but also overlong and vexing in the ways it draws out a "shocking" conclusion that we unravel long before the characters do.

May 17, 2011 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel

| Comments (2)

Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

Top Critic

If you think of Canadian films as the movie equivalent of cucumber sandwiches and chamomile tea, hold tight.

May 12, 2011 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

| Comment

Colin Covert

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

A mystery, a melodrama, a prison film, and a love story, "Incendies'' is foremost a scream of rage at a society destroyed by religion and by men.

May 12, 2011 Full Review Source: Boston Globe

| Comment

Ty Burr

Boston Globe

Top Critic

The apolitical nature of Incendies, a novelistic melodrama about the way terrorism effects people on a personal level, is strangely more irksome than the film's tempestuous and highly controversial final twist.

September 27, 2011 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment (1)

Simon Abrams

Slant Magazine

Every time the film begins to feel more like a history lesson than a drama, it explodes into action.

August 11, 2011 Full Review Source: Flicks.co.nz

| Comment

Matt Glasby

Flicks.co.nz

It's a raw and brutal look at the unending strife in the region, but it's also an unforgettable mystery that keeps the audience riveted through one surprising plot turn after another.

August 4, 2011 Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI)

| Comment

Rob Thomas

Capital Times (Madison, WI)

...an intense and shattering experience, a nearly great film about promises and kinship and the secret, cruel lives our parents lived before we knew them

July 24, 2011 Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

| Comment

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A story of hope amid the ruins -- one that everybody can appreciate, no matter their politics.

July 22, 2011 Full Review Source: Times-Picayune

| Comment

Mike Scott

Times-Picayune

Enthralling and very disturbing.

July 10, 2011 Full Review Source: FilmsInReview.com

| Comment

Victoria Alexander

FilmsInReview.com

A beautifully filmed and movingly performed drama which explores how personal motives breed political radicalism, Incendies is occasionally - but not fatally - stymied by its clever-clever narrative contrivance.

June 29, 2011 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment (1)

Sophie Ivan

Film4

Incendies acquires its heft from some very deep places -- Greek tragedy rather than newsflashes.

June 28, 2011 Full Review Source: Sight and Sound

| Comment

Roger Clarke

Sight and Sound

Incendies is muscular, emotional film-making of the highest order, self-confident in its delivery yet always respectful of its characters' plight.

June 26, 2011 Full Review Source: Observer [UK]

| Comment

Jason Solomons

Observer [UK]

Normally I'm against decent original stories being dumbed down and squashed into bog-standard thriller shapes. But Incendies is in dire need of some dumbing down.

June 25, 2011 Full Review Source: News of the World

| Comments (4)

Robbie Collin

News of the World

Of the four 2010 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominees that I've seen, Canada's Incendies ranks as the only one remotely worthy of the prize.

June 25, 2011 Full Review Source: Creative Loafing

| Comment

Matt Brunson

Creative Loafing

It isn't easy to open out a well-respected stage play without losing a lot of its bite and subtlety.

June 24, 2011 Full Review Source: This is London

| Comment

Derek Malcolm

This is London

Denis Villeneuve's tormented family drama strips off one layer of meaning after another on its way to a thoroughly jolting terminus.

June 24, 2011 Full Review Source: Independent

| Comment

Anthony Quinn

Independent

Absorbing throughout, Incendies has the feel of a Greek tragedy until a conclusion that stretches credibility to breaking point.

June 23, 2011 Full Review Source: Daily Express

| Comment

Allan Hunter

Daily Express

The movie never feels long, partly because of Azabal's terrific performance.

June 23, 2011 Full Review Source: Charlotte Observer

| Comment

Lawrence Toppman

Charlotte Observer

It is not really believable, and yet if it is not taken literally, but as a cinematic prose-poem, it has undoubted force.

June 23, 2011 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK]

| Comment (1)

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian [UK]

Incendies is in essence a family drama, astonishingly intense but impressively poised.

June 23, 2011 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph

| Comment

David Gritten

Daily Telegraph

Elemental and expertly directed, Nawal's story haunts long after the credits have rolled.

June 23, 2011 Full Review Source: Little White Lies

| Comment

Josh Winning

Little White Lies

A wholly cinematic drama that combines twists and suspense with harrowing political insight.

June 23, 2011 Full Review Source: Radio Times

| Comment

David Parkinson

Radio Times

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Incendies

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A striking tragedy unfolds, reminding us to treat each person we meet, no matter our relation or lack-there-of, with invested love. It is a tall tale, but wonderfully produced, sending us throughout Lebanon during its civil war with a budget under 7 million dollars. The twin sister's reaction of horror at one point was

January 26, 2012

Matthew Slaven

Super Reviewer

Wow . . . If you've seen Oldboy, then you probably know what I mean when I say the feelings that I had seeing this one to the end reminded me very much of the way I felt after my first viewing of Oldboy. It's difficult to express in words, but the emotion is similar to what you might get from the Greek tragedies or

November 19, 2011

Lanning : )

Super Reviewer

Incendies Quotes

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1. Simon Marwan: One plus one equals two, right?
– Submitted by Christian R (4 months ago)
1. Jeanne Marwan: I'm in Mom's village. I wish you were here.
– Submitted by Chris P (10 months ago)
1. Notary Jean Lebel: To a notary, Mr. Marwan, a promise is a sacred thing.
– Submitted by Chris P (10 months ago)

Character	Quote
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