A sumptuous romantic drama, Out of Africa spans continents and partners in while relating the tale of how Karen Blixen grew to become the world-famous author.
Out of Africa (1985)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:31
Fresh:19
Rotten:12
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: Though lensed with stunning cinematography and featuring a pair of winning performances from Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, Out of Africa suffers from excessive length and glacial pacing.
Synopsis: Adapted from Isak Dinesen's novel, OUT OF AFRICA, this film plaintively tells the story of two troubled adults who meet and fall in love in the African wilderness. Karen Blixen-Flecke (Meryl... Adapted from Isak Dinesen's novel, OUT OF AFRICA, this film plaintively tells the story of two troubled adults who meet and fall in love in the African wilderness. Karen Blixen-Flecke (Meryl Streep) is a modern woman, caught in the shortcomings of a practical marriage. Finch Hatton (Robert Redford) is a gallant British hunter, lonely, but unable to commit. As they two meet and begin a torrid affair, they set out on an epic adventure in the badlands of Africa--an adventure that real-life Karen Blixen-Flecke would later novelize under the pen name Isak Dinesen. Sydney Pollack's opus, OUT OF AFRICA, is a full, visually compelling film. Its storyline evokes a plethora of emotions, ranging from fear and loathing to hope and the elation of love. Robert Redford and Meryl Streep are electric as the two damaged infidels in love. A key American film, OUT OF AFRICA is not to be missed. [More]
Starring: Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Klaus Maria Brandauer
Starring: Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Klaus Maria Brandauer
Director: Sydney Pollack
Director: Sydney Pollack
Screenwriter: Kurt Luedtke
Composer: John Barry
Reviews for Out of Africa
As the Academy found before awarding it seven Oscars, it is easy to be seduced by the lush cinematography and Barry's score. More difficult to tolerate is the slushy love story between Streep and Redford.
Sydney Pollack applies craftsmanship and restraint to a classic plot curve of longing, fulfillment, and loss, and although the denouement is a bit overextended, he never yields to facile, insistent sentimentality -- his effects are honestly won.
Out of Africa is a great movie to look at, breathtakingly filmed on location. It is a movie with the courage to be about complex, sweeping emotions, and to use the star power of its actors without apology.
The film runs for 161 minutes and does not have a strongly defined narrative.
Bloated and tedious, Pollack's attempt at epic cinema is hampered by failure to provide any clues about the meaning of Africa for Dinesen as writer and woman, and Watkin's cinematography is impressively exotic in the manner of National Geographic.
Meryl Streep trots out a classic performance in this 1985 Oscar-winner about Isak Dineson/Karen Blixen, a writer who lived in Africa for a short time and experienced all manner of adventure and heartache, dutifully recorded in this Sydney Pollack epic.
Out of Africa captures, beautifully and bittersweetly, the last exciting time in the last wild place on Earth, making me feel as if I really missed out on something wonderful by being born too late.
With the exception of Miss Streep's performance, the pleasures of Out of Africa are all peripheral -- David Watkin's photography, the landscapes, the shots of animal life -all of which would fit neatly into a National Geographic layout.
Latest News for Out of Africa
May 26, 2008:
Sydney Pollack dies aged 73
Academy Award-winning director, producer and actor, Sydney Pollack, dies aged 73. More...
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