What Maisie Knew (2013)
Average Rating: 7.7/10
Reviews Counted: 100
Fresh: 88 | Rotten: 12
It's undeniably difficult to watch at times, but What Maisie Knew ultimately rises on the strength of its solidly sourced script, powerful performances, and empathetic direction.
Average Rating: 7.8/10
Critic Reviews: 33
Fresh: 30 | Rotten: 3
It's undeniably difficult to watch at times, but What Maisie Knew ultimately rises on the strength of its solidly sourced script, powerful performances, and empathetic direction.
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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 10,434
Movie Info
A contemporary reimagining of Henry James' novel, WHAT MAISIE KNEW tells the story of a captivating little girl's struggle for grace in the midst of her parents' bitter custody battle. Told through the eyes of the title's heroine, Maisie navigates this ever-widening turmoil with a six-year-old's innocence, charm and generosity of spirit.
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Cast
-
Onata Aprile
Maisie -
Steve Coogan
Beale -
Julianne Moore
Susanna -
Alexander Skarsgård
Lincoln -
Joanna Vanderham
Margo -
Sadie Rae Lee
Zoe -
Jesse Spadaccini
Martin -
Diana Garcia
Cecelia -
Amelia Campbell
Ms. Baine -
Maddie Corman
Ms. Fairchild-Tetenb... -
Paddy Croft
Mrs. Wix -
Trevor Long
Musician #1 -
Emma Holzer
Holly -
Nadia Gan
Hostess -
Samantha Buck
Zoe's Mother -
Anne O'Shea
Administrator -
Malachi Weir
Manager -
Ellen Crown
Counselor -
Jessica Miano Kruel
Customer -
Zachary Unger
Freckly Boy -
Arianna Shirak
Girl -
Tr Pescod
Grey-Haired Guy -
Robert C. Kirk
Li Locksmith -
Nate Lang
Lawyer -
Shobhit Agarwal
NY Locksmith -
Joel Garland
Emmett -
Sean Gormley
Margo's Uncle -
Luke Forbes
Musician on Bus -
Henry Helemen
Tyler -
Andrea Bordeaux
Waitress -
Stephen Mailer
Zoe's Father -
Harrison Nesbit
Pizza Delivery Boy -
Evangelo Bousis
Photographer -
Bruce Cannon
Puppeteer 1 -
Cinna Vesterberg-Ros...
Puppeteer 2 -
Valentine Aprile
Martin's Mother -
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What Maisie Knew Trailer & Photos
All Critics (100) | Top Critics (33) | Fresh (88) | Rotten (12)
Sensitive and almost unwatchably perceptive about dysfunctional families -- and it's acted with knife-sharp precision.
Top CriticThe film is touching, filled with taste and care, but not enough to avoid being coy and sentimental.
On the surface, this indie does sound like standard-issue material, but its dynamics are far more complex than its simple exterior.
What Maisie Knew gives the audience a ground-eye view of its mesmerizing title character, a plucky, charismatic New Yorker who navigates downtown bars and building lobbies with the street savvy of a pro.
The result is a film that deeply engages us on multiple levels. Not only do we wonder what Maisie knows and how she knows it, we want to get this seedling to a place where she won't have to be transplanted every day.
It's a study of human nature, not at its worst, but at its most typically pathetic, and it goes to show that the more things don't change, the more they stay lousy.
A superb, moving film, it's a tribute to author Henry James that his 1897 story could prove so illuminating when adapted for the 21st century. Performances throughout are terrific, seeped as they are in guilt, resentment and confusion.
The filmmakers, Scott McGehee and David Siegel, seem not at all intimidated by Henry James's formidable prose.
Some scenes are tinged with dark comedy; some are heartrending; and some fuse the two, as when Maisie comforts a tearful friend during a sleepover in Susanna's huge Manhattan townhouse, while the delinquent grown-ups indulge themselves downstairs.
[Onata Aprile's] tremendously-believable on-screen spirit reminds us how resilient children can be.
What Maisie Knew runs its titular, newly-orphaned moppet through so many heartbreaking scenarios and encounters, I was stirred to start drawing up the adoption papers myself.
This accomplished film is closer to Kramer vs Kramer or middle-period Woody Allen than it is to James. But that is no bad place to be.
Even though this drama is based on a 115-year-old novel, it feels powerfully timely today in the way it recounts events surrounding a particularly grim divorce.
Vanderham and Skarsgård put in career bests; Moore - and this is really saying something - hasn't been this impressive since Safe.
[A] beautifully acted, thought-provoking drama that skilfully updates Henry James's little-read 1897 novella to the modern era.
A rather sentimental, precious tale, and the important sense of Maisie growing up and learning about the world and its failings doesn't come through.
Handsomely shot and stopping just short of cloying sentiment, this is an accomplished, engaging work.
Whenever Moore is off screen - the only character with size-10 oomph - the film risks evaporating altogether. Moral: it isn't that easy to modernise Henry James.
Impressively directed and superbly written, this is a powerfully emotional and strikingly perceptive drama with excellent performances from a note-perfect cast.
McGehee and Siegel never find a way to really get inside Maisie's head.
An intimate story of repeated betrayal, five terrific performances get this movie over some rocky terrain, including a pat resolution.
With brilliant performances from Julianne Moore and newcomer Onata Aprile, this touching portrayal of a marriage breakdown is at times an uncomfortable watch as it focuses its attentions on the child stuck in the middle.
The young Aprile is a standout in a moving, hard-hitting and surprising adaptation of the Henry James novel.
Seen through the eyes of a six-year-old, this film about the spectre of divorce makes for haunting viewing indeed.
If anything, Maisie as a character is a little too indefatigable; once in a while, you'd love her to throw a huge screaming tantrum and let her wretched parents know just what children they're being.
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- Das Glück der großen Dinge (DE)
