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Ordinary People (1980)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 33
Fresh: 30
Rotten:3
Average Rating: 7.8/10
Consensus: Though shot through with bitterness and sorrow, Robert Redford's directorial debut is absorbing and well-acted.
Runtime: 2 hrs 4 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Devastated by the loss of their older son, well-to-do suburban couple Calvin (Donald Sutherland) and Beth (Mary Tyler Moore) are trying to rebuild their lives after their younger son, Conrad... Devastated by the loss of their older son, well-to-do suburban couple Calvin (Donald Sutherland) and Beth (Mary Tyler Moore) are trying to rebuild their lives after their younger son, Conrad (Timothy Hutton), attempts suicide. While Beth, who always favored the elder son, retreats into an icy, emotionless shell, Calvin tries to draw Conrad back into the family and into life as a teenager. Conrad sings in the choir and returns to the swim team, but both his brother's death and his own experiences traumatize him. Conrad reluctantly begins therapy sessions with Berger (Judd Hirsch), which allow him some respite from the unbearable grief and guilt he carries with him. As Conrad makes strides, Calvin realizes that he no longer knows his wife and is both saddened and angered by how seemingly emotionless she has become. A classic portrait of family life in the face of tragedy, Robert Redford's award-winning directorial debut is moving and thought provoking. Based on the novel by Judith Guest, the film features the debuts of Timothy Hutton and Elizabeth McGovern as well as breakthrough performances from Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland. [More]
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Timothy Hutton, Judd Hirsch
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Timothy Hutton, Judd Hirsch, Basil Hoffman, Elizabeth McGovern
Director: Robert Redford
Director: Robert Redford
Composer: Marvin Hamlisch
Producer: Ronald Schwary
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Reviews for Ordinary People
An austere and delicate examination of the ways in which a likable family falters under pressure and struggles, with ambiguous results, to renew itself.
For an Oscar-winner it's unusually bleak but the power is very carefully controlled.
This dissection of family mores in upscale suburbia is emotionally effective but decidedly unsentimental--it's the perfect text for the feature directorial debut of Robert Redford, exhibiting restrained style with strong performances.
Robert Redford chose to adapt Judith Guest's novel as his first directorial effort, with impressive results.
The film looks austere and serious, rather as if it had been shot inside a Frigidaire, and the oppressiveness of the images tends to strangle laughter, even at the most absurd excesses of Alvin Sargent's script.
A beautifully acted film about the impact of a family tragedy on those who blame themselves and others.
An actors' movie and an advert for therapy, extremely bitter, but handsomely directed in its elegant pretentiousness.
It is Redford's ability to let the movie breathe...that forces the viewer to experience the film on a visceral level.
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