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The World to Come is made from ingredients that will be familiar to fans of period forbidden romance movies, but they're given fresh life thanks to an excellent cast. Read critic reviews

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Movie Info

In this powerful 19th century romance set in the American Northeast, Abigail (Katherine Waterston), a farmer's wife, and her new neighbor Tallie (Vanessa Kirby) find themselves irrevocably drawn to each other. A grieving Abigail tends to her withdrawn husband Dyer (Casey Affleck) as free-spirit Tallie bristles at the jealous control of her husband Finney (Christopher Abbott), when together their intimacy begins to fill a void in each other's lives they never knew existed. Directed by Mona Fastvold and scripted by Jim Shepard and Ron Hansen, THE WORLD TO COME explores how isolation is overcome by the intensity of human connection.
  • Rating:
    R (Some Sexuality/Nudity)
  • Genre:
    drama, romance, gay and lesbian
  • Original Language:
    English
  • Director:
    Mona Fastvold
  • Producer:
    Casey Affleck, Margarethe Baillou, David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Whitaker Lader
  • Writer:
    Ron Hansen, Jim Shepard
  • Release Date (Theaters):
     limited
  • Release Date (Streaming):
  • Box Office (Gross USA):
    $106.3K
  • Runtime:
  • Production Co:
    M.Y.R.A. Entertainment, Yellow Bear Films, Hyper Films, Panasper Films, Sea Change Media, Charades, Sailor Bear, Arsia Production, Ingenious Media, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA), Killer Films

Cast & Crew

Katherine Waterston
Abigail
Vanessa Kirby
Tallie
Casey Affleck
Dyer
Christopher Abbott
Finney
Karina Ziana Gherasim
Nellie
Ioachim Ciobanu
Widow Weldon's Son
James Longshore
Man #1
Sandra Personnic-House
Mrs. Nottoway
Andreea Vasile
Mother
Mona Fastvold
Director
Ron Hansen
Screenwriter
Jim Shepard
Screenwriter
Casey Affleck
Producer
Margarethe Baillou
Producer
David Hinojosa
Producer
Pamela Koffler
Producer
Whitaker Lader
Producer
Carole Baraton
Executive Producer
Pavel Burya
Executive Producer
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Critic Reviews for The World to Come

All Critics (116) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (86) | Rotten (30)

  • Waterston and Kirby give it their all, and their passion on screen is electrifying.

    March 11, 2021 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

    Randy Myers

    San Jose Mercury News

  • What stands out is the way that Fastvold's film renders the furtive, the inexpressible, the typically-repressed in primary color. The ties grow between Abigail and Tallie feel unencumbered, afloat with a sense of joyous implausibility.

    March 10, 2021 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

    K. Austin Collins

    Rolling Stone

  • The film offers a small bit of emotional rescue at its very end-a graceful tribute to the escapes of memory and fantasy-but by then the dourness of its conclusions has blotted out any rounder sense of meaning. There is not much world to come, after all

    March 4, 2021 | Full Review…

    Richard Lawson

    Vanity Fair

  • Waterston and Kirby build a captivating atmosphere of intimacy and tenderness that is as genuine as it is achingly believable. But unfortunately, their talents are almost too big for the story...

    March 4, 2021 | Full Review…

    Anne T. Donahue

    Globe and Mail

  • When in the presence of Kirby's warm and exotic pre-Raphaelite beauty, Waterston smiles with pure delight (at first, it's a jarring sight), relieved in the discovery that life can be more than everyday drudgery and pain.

    February 18, 2021 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

    Steve Davis

    Austin Chronicle

  • A love story of deep and delicate feeling if not strict originality.

    February 13, 2021 | Rating: B | Full Review…

    Leah Greenblatt

    Entertainment Weekly
View All Critic Reviews (116)

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