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Provoked

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Provoked (2007)

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Reviews Counted:34

Fresh:10

Rotten:24

Average Rating:4.5/10

Consensus: Provoked's story is worth telling, but the hammy dialogue and heavy-handed direction doesn't give it the refined treatment it deserves.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:May 11, 2007 Limited

Synopsis: "Provoked" is the true story of a battered wife who fought back, first against her husband and then against the system. Full of optimism and affection, newlywed Kiranjit Ahluwalia (Aishwarya... "Provoked" is the true story of a battered wife who fought back, first against her husband and then against the system. Full of optimism and affection, newlywed Kiranjit Ahluwalia (Aishwarya Rai) arrives at the doorstep of her new home and life with husband Deepak (Naveen Andrews). She would continue her law studies as her family had promised and the couple would start a family. The future offered only pain.The drunken Deepak beats her for the first time and shows remorse. He beats her again. It gets easier. After 10 years of violence, a dazed Kiranjit can take no more. She resorts to a desperate act that kills Deepak. She is convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Incarceration tests the outwardly meek Kiranjit’s toughness at every turn, but the mother of two has suffered worse at home. She develops an ally in the mischievous Ronnie (Miranda Richardson), who also doled out the ultimate retribution to her abusive spouse. While Kiranjit acclimates to life behind bars, Radha (Nandita Das), an activist with the Southall Black Sisters, glimpses a tabloid headline about her case and springs into action. A barrister (Rebecca Pidgeon) with limited resources cannot make any headway, igniting greater determination in Radha, who rallies public opinion. Ronnie is denied parole but she has a secret weapon on the outside to help Kiranjit: Ronnie’s estranged brother-in-law Lord Foster (Robbie Coltrane), an influential legal eagle. Kiranjit’s appeal gains momentum when Radha persuades a cop to change his knowingly false testimony that Kiranjit was in her right mind the night of the killing. Arguing passionately before the high court, Lord Foster moves the judge to change the fate of many battered women forever. --© Official site [More]

Starring: Aishwarya Rai, Naveen Andrews, Miranda Richardson, Rebecca Pidgeon

Starring: Aishwarya Rai, Naveen Andrews, Miranda Richardson, Rebecca Pidgeon, Robbie Coltrane, Nicholas Irons, Nandita Das

Director: Jag Mundhra

Director: Jag Mundhra
Screenwriter: Jag Mundhra
Producer: Sunanda Murali Mahohar
Composer: A.R. Rahman
Studio: Eros Entertainment

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Aug 28, 2007

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Reviews for Provoked

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A melodrama dressed up just enough to hold interest, in the retelling of an undeniably important story.

Full Review Source: GreenCine | comment Comment
07/30/09
Craig Phillips
Craig Phillips
GreenCine

What should have turned out as a terrific movie about the crime of spousal abuse has instead received the equivalent of a ham-handed molestation by director Mundhra.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
06/08/07
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

By offsetting Women in Cages-style throw-downs with Malcolm X-like uplift, it is simultaneously strange and familiar, inspiring and annoying.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
05/30/07
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

The real-life heroes in this story deserve better than a formulaic, poorly shot melodrama.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
05/21/07
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The script is melodramatic, and Rai's lead performance is thin stuff.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
05/18/07
Walter V. Addiego
Walter V. Addiego
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[Director] Mundhra can't control the expansiveness of the melodrama or focus on the terseness of realism. Every character in Provoked, from victims to tyrants, Indian to English, loud to quiet, ends up as a grossly exaggerated comic creation.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
05/18/07
Kamal Al-Solaylee
Kamal Al-Solaylee
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

In the end, Provoked is not provocative enough.

Full Review Source: Contra Costa Times | comment Comment
05/18/07
Mary F. Pols
Mary F. Pols
Contra Costa Times

Provoked rarely ducks below its glossy surface.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
05/18/07
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

feels largely meaningless and inconsequential

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
05/17/07
David Levine
David Levine
Filmcritic.com

The true-crime drama Provoked has everything to offer except a cinematic point of view and a knack for depicting human beings under duress. Those are major drawbacks.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
05/17/07
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Unfortunately, Provoked possesses the tinny production values and schmaltzy music of a prime-time special, despite its ensemble of terrific actors.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
05/17/07
Ann Hornaday
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Account of a legal campaign launched by women to expose the brutality of domestic violence and male chauvinism.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
05/17/07
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Director Jag Mundhra doesn't do enough to clarify that killing, however horrible the man, really isn't okay, even for beautiful women.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
05/16/07
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

In keeping its inflammatory subject matter at arm’s length, Provoked does exactly the same to its audience.

comment Comment
05/14/07
Jeannette Catsoulis
Jeannette Catsoulis
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Holy Burning Bed! If Britain had its own equivalent of the Lifetime channel, "Provoked" would be tailor made for it.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
05/12/07
Laura Clifford
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews

PROVOKED: A TRUE STORY sets out to tell an important story in the history of the British judicial system. Unfortunately, the project was undertaken by filmmakers who seemingly didn't know how to handle the implications of the story they wanted to tell.

Full Review Source: Murphy's Movie Reviews | comment Comment
05/11/07
Ted Murphy
Ted Murphy
Murphy's Movie Reviews

Soapy sermon about the landmark case of a battered wife.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
05/11/07
Glenn Whipp
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Daily News

Director Jag Mundhra expends so much energy and screen time to sway us to take Kiranjit's side -- really, we're on her side, we're on her side -- that he doesn't have much left over for anything else.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
05/11/07
Carina Chocano
Carina Chocano
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A clueless [director] Mundhra tackles the subject with a heavy hand and a contrived script. The result is a daytime soap mixed with a second-rate women-behind-bars flick.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
05/11/07
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For all the gushy feelings, the plight of women like Kiranjit, bound not only by domineering, often physically abusive husbands but by racism and oppressive cultural traditions as well, is poignantly portrayed.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
05/11/07
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide
 
 
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