MERYL’S MASTERPIECE

By Raymond Benson

In 1982, Meryl Streep had already made a big splash in the motion picture industry, having won a Supporting Actress Oscar for 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer, and securing a Supporting Actress nomination prior to that for 1978’s The Deer Hunter and a Best Actress nomination for 1981’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman. With Sophie’s Choice, the actress snapped up the Best Actress Oscar pretty much without a contest—everyone knew that if she didn’t win, then a terrible crime had been committed by the Academy. In short, in this reviewer’s opinion, Streep’s performance in Sophie’s Choice is one of the greatest pieces of acting ever presented on the silver screen. Period. Since then, Streep has gone on to prove, over and over, that she is arguably the most talented actress in the history of cinema, but Sophie remains her masterpiece.

It’s a damned good movie, too, and it should have at the very least secured nominations that year for Best Picture and Best Director. It’s faithfully adapted from William Styron’s best-selling novel and it’s beautifully made. And while Streep dominates the film with her bravura characterization of a tortured Polish Holocaust survivor, her two co-stars, Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol, are also very good (in fact it was Kline’s film debut as Nathan, Sophie’s bi-polar lover). Pakula’s direction is sensitive and intimate, although it’s a big story that encompasses three distinct personalities amidst a backdrop of post-war ennui.

If you’ve never seen it, you’re probably thinking, Oh, a Holocaust movie, what a downer, who wants to see that? Well, there are Holocaust films and then there is Sophie’s Choice (actually only a small portion of the film reveals Holocaust scenes in flashback). Primarily it’s a love story, albeit a tragic one. It will move you and shake you, and you will come away from the experience a different person. Seriously. This is Alan J. Pakula’s best motion picture, All the President’s Men notwithstanding.

The best thing about the new Shout Factory Blu-ray release of the film is the fact that it’s anamorphic widescreen—which the only other U.S. DVD edition wasn’t. The disc is worth buying for that alone; however, the 1080p high-definition presentation looks very good. The soft focus used throughout the picture by DP Nestor Almendros is perhaps a detriment to the overall appearance of the image, but still—it’s much better than what we had before. The audio commentary is by the late director himself.

The only extra is a long, recent roundtable discussion between Streep, Kline, Pakula’s widow, William Styron’s widow, and two of Pakula’s colleagues. The group goes through the film’s casting and production, revealing many interesting gems about the business.

Sophie’s Choice is one of the best films of the 80s. Experience it on Blu-ray today

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