ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

l_rawjalaurence War photographer Rebecca (Juliette Binoche) is one of the best at her job, obtaining the kind of pictures that invariably get published in western magazines as examples of the violence of conflicts in nonwestern areas such as Afghanistan or Kenya. The only snag is that Rebecca is so obsessed with her work that she cannot understand the damage she is doing to her family back in Ireland, especially her daughter Steph (Lauryn Canny).The conflict between personal and professional values forms the kernel of Erik Poppe's film. Yet thematically speaking the director is far more interested in prompting reflection on the photographer's trade. While Rebecca certainly shows a good deal of bravery in trying to get the best pictures, we also understand that she is something of a voyeur who actively enjoys intruding into her subjects' personal space. Her fondness for the close-up of suffering people is quite disconcerting, especially in a sequence taking place in the back of an SUV in Afghanistan. In political terms, she adopts a neocolonialist position of the westerner taking scopophilic pleasure in the power she exerts through her camera.Perhaps the film's most telling moment occurs back in Ireland, when Steph turns the camera on Rebecca and photographs her repeatedly. Rebecca cannot endure the experience of the lens pointing at her in such an intense manner and turns her head away, her eyes filling with tears. Would that Rebecca might understand that her subjects could feel much the same; but if she did so, then she would not be good at her job.Given the integrity with which Poppe examines this issue, it's rather sad that the film as a whole should be somewhat melodramatic. In the end the action descends into something of a tug-of-love battle between mother and family; at one point Rebecca bundles Steph and her younger sister Lisa (Adrianna Cramer Curtis) in a pathetic attempt to abduct them from their family home. Needless to say husband Marcus (Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau) foils the plot and eventually looks after the girls himself.The film makes a half-hearted attempt to draw a parallel between Rebecca's wanderlust and the rhythms of the tide (her daughter observes that the photographer is like the sea, coming and going), but unfortunately outstays its welcome: the last half-hour unfolds slowly but predictably towards an inevitable denouement. This is a shame, given the seriousness of its basic premise - almost as if director Poppe had lost the courage of his convictions.

rogerdarlington This is a truly European production with a genuinely global agenda. A Norway-Sweden- Ireland co-production, it was shot in Ireland, Afghanistan, Kenya and Morocco and both the director Erik Poppe and writer Harald Rosenløw Eeg are Norwegian (the story is inspired by Poppe's personal experiences as a war photographer). War photographer Rebecca (the French Juliette Binoche) is married to marine biologist Marcus (the Danish Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau) and they live in Ireland with their two daughters, but Rebecca is constantly drawn to conflict zones where she take incredible risks to obtain dramatic photographs. The film explores what such a situation does to the family left at home and what drives someone to risk all that is dear to them. The largely wordless opening sequence presages a slow work, but a compelling one, and as always Binoche gives a mesmerising performance.

randall-3-562343 This film deals with numerous mature themes, and handles them in an incredibly well-crafted way:> how families and children in the US are so sheltered and distanced from life around the world; > how our American dream is the target of extremists who want to blow it up; > how families can be torn apart by jobs and responsibilities that take them in different directions; > how committed the people who commit acts of violence are - we really don't have our minds wrapped around their mindsets;> how spouses support one another's work responsibilities, or not.Maybe if there's a flaw it has to do with the many theme plots it contains, but in the end I would see it again. And if you will return to see a film twice, then it had to have something of value.It you want to be entertained, this is not your film of choice. If you want to be engaged in thought-provoking subject matter, go.

sas2014 Being a Juliette Binoche s biggest fan from early days of my life is no news. However she still keeps surprising me. I was in the movie from the Start, from being a mother and having to choose ones career or the Family totally felt it. Then feeling the loneliest person on earth Surrounded with people who you love, unappreciated and somehow Misunderstood, also something close to my heart. The story line is very strong and not unrealistic. In fact one can feel why she is burning with desire to "Grab and chock people from their morning newspaper). Hours after finishing the film, still sitting analysing it in my head, well that is one hell of a good movie to me!