← Back to results
Beloved
1998 172 min United States of America R 12+
★6.8
Drama, Horror, Thriller, Mystery
Director: Jonathan Demme
🎭 Based on
«Beloved»
byToni Morrison
Trailers
Description
After Paul D. finds his old slave friend Sethe in Ohio and moves in with her and her daughter Denver, a strange girl comes along by the name of "Beloved". Sethe and Denver take her in and then strange things start to happen...
Budget:
$80M
US Gross:
$22.85M
Worldwide:
$22.9M
Starring
Oprah Winfrey
Actor
Danny Glover
Actor
Yada Beener
Actor
Awards
Academy Awards 1999
— Best Costume Design
Key opinion
Beloved is a polarizing yet deeply ambitious adaptation of Toni Morrison’s novel that draws praise for its intense emotional weight and historical craftsmanship. While supporters view its three-hour runtime as a rewarding and essential experience, detractors find the narrative fragmented and the pacing incoherent.
| Production | The production design and period-specific costuming earn high marks for their authentic and precise reconstruction of the post-Civil War era. | |
| Acting | Oprah Winfrey delivers an intuitive and powerful performance that anchors the film’s exploration of traumatic motherhood. | |
| Cinematography | The cinematography effectively utilizes a haunting visual style to convey the gravity of slavery and the film's mystical elements. | |
| Runtime | Viewers are split on the three-hour runtime: supporters find it a rewarding, seamless epic, while critics view it as an exhausting and disjointed experience. | |
| Adaptation | The narrative structure is divisive; some appreciate its piecemeal, complex adaptation of the source material, while others perceive it as incoherent and clumsy. |