Synopsis
Full-throttle melodrama about an ill-starred romance set against the backdrop of the siege of Sarajevo. A mother brings her teenage son to Sarajevo, where his father died in the Bosnian conflict years ago.
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Cast
- Penélope CruzGemma
- Emile HirschDiego
- Adnan HaskovićGojco
- Saadet Işıl AksoyAska
- Pietro CastellittoPietro
- Mira FurlanVelida
- Jovan DivjakJovan
- Vinicio MarchioniGemma's husband
- Branko ĐurićDoctor
- Jane BirkinPsicologa
Recommendations
- 75
Chicago Sun-Times
Teeming with familiar war-film clichés and at times almost unbearably melodramatic, Twice Born is nevertheless worth the effort, thanks in large part to a magnificent performance from Penelope Cruz and some fine work from the international supporting cast. - 42
The A.V. Club
One hundred minutes of snooze-inducing troubled romance eventually gives way to a strange, interesting backstory. It doesn’t manage to recast the preceding feature’s worth of movie in a different light, but instead makes the viewer wish the film had gotten to the end sooner. - 40
Village Voice
Sergio Castellitto's Twice Born irresponsibly appropriates the horrific siege of Sarajevo to serve as aesthetic backdrop for a story that exhibits no real interest in the conflict. - 40
Time Out
The movie’s nagging inconsistency goes from merely grating to flat-out jaw-dropping, courtesy of late-game plot twists that squander whatever benefit of the doubt may remain. - 40
The Dissolve
Nearly every superficial element of the movie is badly misconceived; it was doomed before the first scene was shot. - 38
Slant Magazine
Sergio Castellitto's film quickly turns out to be more interested in reveling in the secrets of its storyline than in its sentiments. - 38
New York Post
About the only reason to stay with this increasingly histrionic film is to satisfy curiosity about exactly how Diego will (as we learn at the outset) die, but long before we learn that Twice Born chokes to death on its own melodrama. - 20
New York Daily News
The tragic Balkan conflict of the 1990s is due for a sweeping, important and engaging cinematic remembrance. Twice Born wants to be that movie — a Bosnian “Doctor Zhivago” — but falls short.
