critics consensus

The Sheltering Sky puts its talented stars at odds with a misguided and largely unsatisfying adaptation of potentially unfilmable source material. Read critic reviews

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The Sheltering Sky Photos

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Movie Info

An American couple (John Malkovich, Debra Winger) drift toward emptiness in postwar North Africa.

Rating:

R
Genre:

adventure, romance, drama
Original Language:

English
Director:

Bernardo Bertolucci
Producer:

Jeremy Thomas
Release Date (Streaming):

Jan 30, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA):

$1.4M
Runtime:

2h 17m
Sound Mix:

Surround

Cast & Crew

John Malkovich
Port Moresby

Debra Winger
Kit Moresby

Campbell Scott
George Tunner

Jill Bennett
Mrs. Lyle

Timothy Spall
Eric Lyle

Eric Vu-An
Belqassim

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for The Sheltering Sky

All Critics (26) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (13) | Rotten (13)

Quote not available.

September 7, 2011 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
A disappointingly reductive adaptation of Paul Bowles's first novel.

December 7, 2007 | Full Review…

Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Those who haven't read the book will be left bewildered.

December 7, 2007 | Full Review…

Variety Staff
Variety
As you'd expect, it's a big, handsome film, rich and strange in psychological depths and eroticism. Malkovich and Winger play woundingly well.

June 24, 2006 | Full Review…

Time Out
A long, beautifully modulated cry of despair.

May 20, 2003 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Vincent Canby
New York Times
The book is so complete, so deep and so self-contained that it shuts the movie out. Bertolucci shows us the outsides and the surfaces, and a person seeing this movie without having read the book might ask what it is about.

January 1, 2000 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…

Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Insufferably dull.

May 19, 2020 | Full Review…

Monica Dorenkamp
OutWeek
Working with legendary cinematographer and longtime collaborator Vittorio Storaro, Bertolucci constructed one of the most visually gorgeous films of his career.

April 6, 2020 | Rating: 7/10 | Full Review…

Nathanael Hood
Nate Hood Reviews
Filled with stunning visuals.

March 11, 2011 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
Disappointing.

December 7, 2007 | Full Review…

Film4
Brimming with obscure meaning and devoid of drive and fervor, the film dries up in that symbolic desert sun, the victim of its own pretensions and a casualty of trying to film something best suited to the realm of cult literature.

December 7, 2007 | Rating: 1.5/4 | Full Review…

TV Guide
Bertolucci's grand desert epic gets stuck in the sand right at the start.

December 6, 2005 | Rating: 2.5/5

Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

View All Critic Reviews (26)

Audience Reviews for The Sheltering Sky

Dec 13, 2009

More of an aesthetic venture than an actual filmic one. Deservedly praised for it's cinematography even if it is more than just reminiscent of Lawrence of Arabia. Especially the gimmick of panning from right to left almost throughout the film to symbolize a journey. Some good performances makes it worthwhile, but ultimately too long. The last third is virtually without dialogue, and it didn't really capture me thoroughly so I gradually lost interest in where our characters went. Both geographically and psychologically.

a z Super Reviewer
Sep 27, 2008

A painfully long movie...

Audrey L Super Reviewer
Apr 02, 2008

The worst!!! When its finally over you find yourself asking, how can so many talented people make something this pretentious and odious.

jay n Super Reviewer
Mar 22, 2008

Bertolucci's worst film. I would rather tear my eyes out than see this again.

Anthony V Super Reviewer