Sophie's Choice is two movies for the price of one. One of the movies is a young writer's coming-of-age story in New York. The other is a Holocaust movie. It is very dialogue driven. Does it succeed?
In one sense, yes. Kevin Kline is great as Nathan Landau: charismatic and funny. Meryl Streep is convincing on all levels as Sophie. The actual moment of Sophie's choice is one of the most powerful moments I've ever seen on film.
But then we come to the problem of the movie seeming very long. I found that the Holocaust movie disrupted the coming-of-age movie. Once we are thrown back in time to Sophie's suffering in the death camp, the tribulations of Stingo in the present day seem quite trivial. It seemed to suck away the energy of the primary story, if that's possible.
Then there is the other side of the character Nathan Landau. I won't give away what happens. Let's just say the audience discovers that he is not just a bad drunk. The effect of this realization is not shocking. It is disappointing. Imagine if you can a comedy starring a really stupid guy. The audience laughs at him and near the end they discover the character is retarded. The whole thing seemed like a huge deflation of Nathan's character.
Sophie's Choice is not for everyone. I loved many things about it. Other things frustrated me. Generally, I'd say they cancel each other out.
3 great American novels out of 5
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