70
The New Yorker by Anthony Lane
The deep drawback of Taking Sides is that it forgets to be interested in music. [8 September 2003, p. 100]
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
75
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Ronald Harwood's screenplay, based on his stage play, brings an impressive range of moral and political issues into play. The acting is also strong.
70
Its soul rests in Skarsgard's performance, a powerful mixture of buttoned-down anger and personal disappointment that combines the filmmaker's self-questioning with the real-life character's conflict.
63
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
Characters do little more than run around the same track incessantly, leaving us waiting for revelations that never arrive.
60
Flawed but fascinating.
42
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
The sides to consider in Taking Sides are all but obscured by cinematic pomposity at best, Holocaust porn at worst.
63
New York Post by Megan Lehmann
A compelling look at a vexa tious question, Taking Sides is, at times, hamstrung by its own ambiguity.
50
Taking Sides is really no less simplistic than "Sunshine," but its predecessor succeeded because of its length and scope. Taking Sides stays rooted in one place and one discussion, and never gets anywhere.
60
New York Magazine (Vulture) by Peter Rainer
Taking Sides has a padded-out, stagebound quality that is anything but lyrical. And Szabó, a Hungarian best known for "Mephisto" and "Colonel Redl," is not at his best here.
80
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
Sparked by the actors' powerful performances, Arnold's moral absolutism and Furtwängler's lofty aestheticism make for a dramatically compelling clash.