Sophie's Choice

"Sophie's Choice" wants desperately to be a Great Hollywood Epic. Instead, it has to settle for merely being worthwhile.

Superficially, the film does feature the hallmarks of an Oscar-winning classic. It's an actor-driven drama featuring a love triangle with two principals who harbor Dark Secrets. Even better, one of those characters is a Holocaust survivor.

But only one of the film's assets can fairly be described as timeless: Meryl Streep's Oscar-winning performance as a Polish immigrant who has only recently survived Auschwitz. Streep has to carry this film and she absolutely nails it. The acrobatics required for her emotionally ravaged character would be difficult enough to negotiate without her also affecting a Polish accent. Her phrasing and mannerisms as a non-native English speaker are impeccable.

Streep's performance alone makes the film worth seeing. She is assisted by Kevin Kline, who turns in a strong effort as her unstable lover. Alan Paluka's austere directing also pays dividends at times, as when the camera lingers over the suffering masses of Auschwitz. The other point to recommend the film is its plot, which features enough twists to keep us interested most of the way.

But these strengths are undermined throughout "Sophie's Choice." Chief among the film's weaknesses is the performance of Peter MacNicol as a young writer who befriends the two lovers. With his overly earnest acting, MacNicol seems like he's wandered in from the set of a bad '80s B-movie. He threatens to derail every scene in which he is a focal point; the film works best when he is merely an observer of Streep and Kline.

Another major issue is the score, which is a total clunker. From the opening strains of strings in the first scene--more awkward than stirring--we know we will have to suffer through some maudlin music at moments which should be genuinely moving.

Pakula's patient approach also outlasts that of the audience at times. He seems determined to draw every last scene out, and throws in a brief romantic dalliance involving MacNicol which is utterly pointless.

The plot also has a couple of leaps that strain credulity. They are symptomatic of the film as a whole: when "Sophie's Choice" should be soaring, we are reminded that it's only a movie.