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The Woodmans (2010)

tomatometer

100

Average Rating: 7.7/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 0

No consensus yet.

audience

82

liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 685

My Rating

Movie Info

Francesca Woodman's haunting B&W images, many of them nude self-portraits, now reside in the pantheon of great photography from the late 20th century. The daughter of artists Betty and Charles Woodman (she a ceramicist and he a painter/ photographer), Francesca was a precocious RISD graduate, who came to New York with the intention of setting the art world on fire. But in 1981, as a despondent 22-year-old, she committed suicide. THE WOODMANS beautifully interweaves the young artist's work

Unrated, 1 hr. 22 min.

Documentary, Special Interest

$38.3k

Lorber Films

All Critics (18) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (1)

It's impossible to listen to Francesca's parents, deadly serious about art as a higher calling, without feeling both saddened and disturbed.

November 17, 2011 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The Woodmans tells the compelling, if slightly disturbing, story of a family coming to grips with love, ego, resentment and loss.

July 28, 2011 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
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Willis provides no easy answers and points no fingers, but the search proves fascinating.

April 15, 2011 Full Review Source: New York Post | Comment
New York Post
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An indelible group portrait of a family of artists.

January 19, 2011 Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | Comment
Hollywood Reporter
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If its message can be boiled down to one sentence, it is George's stoic observation: "There is a psychic risk in being an artist."

January 19, 2011 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
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A haunting study in family dynamics.

January 18, 2011 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

By the time it ends, however, it has applied enough fine brush strokes to create a subtle and vaguely disturbing portrait of a dysfunctional family of artists.

September 23, 2011 Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | Comment
Jam! Movies

Woodman's black-and-white photographs, many of them self-portraits, convey a haunting sense of isolation; of something forever lost from the empty, almost decaying rooms in which she drapes herself.

February 24, 2011 Full Review Source: Seattle Times | Comment
Seattle Times

Willis' careful balancing act between portraying a unique family unit and the peculiarities of genius winds up making The Woodmans disturbing in an unexpected way.

January 26, 2011 Full Review Source: New York Press | Comment (1)
New York Press

The Woodmans isn't out to demonize Francesca's upbringing or to play the blame game for her untimely death.

January 22, 2011 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

A journeyman-like investigation into the life and legacy of photographer Francesca Woodman, C. Scott Willis' The Woodmans is a conventional talking-heads-and-clips documentary.

January 21, 2011 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | Comment
Boxoffice Magazine

a movie that burrows into questions about how our talents are molded, how artistic promise can lead to crippling loneliness, and the burden of great expectations.

January 20, 2011 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com

Willis works to turn The Woodmans into an existential mystery, through a soundtrack full of moody vibes, interviews shot in tight close-ups, and the floating words from Francesca's diaries that Willis inserts as a kind of answer from beyond the grave.

January 20, 2011 Full Review Source: AV Club | Comment
AV Club

Though compelling, it is a complicated and difficult experience to watch The Woodmans.

January 19, 2011 Full Review Source: About.com | Comment
About.com

Unsettling, evocative tale of an artistic yet dysfunctional family.

January 19, 2011 Full Review Source: Film Journal International | Comment
Film Journal International

Making art is more than a pastime, a hobby or even a career, as shown in the emotional family profile The Woodmans.

January 19, 2011 Full Review Source: Time Out New York | Comment
Time Out New York

A thought-provoking look at one troubled family of artists and their need to express themselves.

January 18, 2011 Full Review Source: IFC.com | Comment
IFC.com

This intriguing docu, winner at the 2010 Tribeca Film Fest, offers a poignant look at the haunting art of Francesca Woodman by placing her life and work in the broader contexts of her family (her parents are artists) and NY art world.

January 18, 2011 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Woodmans

Beautiful and haunting.

December 22, 2011

Intra Moenia Sorry, English translation mechanics. What happened inside the building body of Francesca? Why has come to an act so extreme and I understand reasoned? What he wanted to communicate to permanently excluding a priori the black and white using only the bright red of his blood? It 'hard to answer, and the

November 2, 2011
RONGIU
Giuseppe Ronga

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