A Promise
In Germany before World War I, a woman faces a different path in her life through a different love story. Tall married women fall in love with husband's protégé but they seem to be fully committed to duties and then to war. As the days passed, both of them decided to pledge to devote one another to a new life.
1 December 1946, Plymouth, Devon, England, UK
21 February 1946, Hammersmith, London, England, UK
28 August 1977, Belgium
18 June 1986, Elderslie, Renfrewshire, Scotland, UK
3 May 1982, London, England, UK
19 May 1971, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
July 31, 2014
If you only watch one Stefan Zweig-inspired film this year, watch The Grand Budapest Hotel. If you watch two, see The Grand Budapest Hotel twice. Awful.
July 31, 2014
A particularly languid, slow-burning period drama.
August 01, 2014
When a French filmmaker travels to Belgium to film a German story in English, it's hardly surprising that the resulting movie feels somewhat awkward.
September 04, 2013
This awkward, passionless drama conveys neither the sensuality nor the drawn-out sense of longing required by its period tale of a young secretary who falls in love with his employer's wife.
August 01, 2014
Nonetheless, at its best, it has some of the same qualities as Ophüls' [Letter from an Unknown Woman].
August 15, 2014
Though by no means an unbearable watch, A Promise is almost as much an exercise in patience for its viewers as it is for Friedrich and Lotte.
April 17, 2014
The anguish of the lovers' decade-long separation can't be evoked in a matter of minutes ...
August 01, 2014
The lack of chemistry between Madden and Hall drains the film of energy and their unrequited longing is often unintentionally amusing.
April 16, 2014
The magnetism between these stiff nonstarters wouldn't stick to a fridge, especially when the war-ex-machina forces them apart for years but the only credible passing of time is our own.
August 04, 2014
The main drawbacks are the grey decorousness of the pacing and visuals, and Richard Madden's unsympathetically flat playing as antihero Fritz.
July 29, 2014
Despite decent performances, a promising dramatic set-up leads to little of real interest.
