Meryl Streep - Making of "Sophie's Choice" - Part 1 of 2

[@imranatheistformer-muslim3884]

This film is so good that i can't watch it a second time. The acting and film making makes it feel so real. And incredibly sad.

[@אבירםכהן-ו4מ]

because it is real, the nazis were sadistic psychos, there were a mothers and fathers that had to make unbelievably hard choice

[@juliestanwell-wise7280]

​@@אבירםכהן-ו4מ

[@Merylcaine]

@@אבירםכהן-ו4מ.

[@malvavisco10]

* The acting and filmmaking make it….

[@arontamas5639]

Meryl's Sophie was straight up the best performance by an actress EVER.

[@sharoninglima1217]

I watched this film when it came out with a friend. We could not speak after watching this incredible movie. Meryl Streep and the cast were amazing. ❤❤

[@perceblue3976]

In the child selection scene, I couldn`t imagine such horror like that, watching your child being taken to it`s death and the screams fading away into the distance. That scene still stays with me to this day. The worse part is that those atrocities really did happen. Those German Nazis were sadistic psychos, pure evil. Hope they are now suffering eternal torment in hell.

[@brigidvanparys2062]

We can definitely pray that they are suffering eternal pain.

[@christianealshut1123]

I must say that those things really happened. Some years ago I read the memoirs of a German industrialist, Berthold Beitz, who had lived in Poland during the time, and he actually mentioned witnessing an incident like that. And just a bit of trivia on the sight: Meryl Streep was pregnant with her daughter Marnie when she filmed that scene. She said she would only film one take and they would have to do with whatever came of her attempt, but in no way would she be going through this scene more than once.

[@El-vi6lg]

I am Polish.Our language is one of the hardest to learn due to complex grammar, inflections, declensions,complex word order and consonants, not too mention the proununciation! I must say Meryl Streep really did an outstanding job learning it!

[@christianealshut1123]

Yes, and she even managed to learn to speak German with a Polish accent...I remember when she took on the part of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, people started complaining that she was unfit for the role because of being American (and allegedly not being able to speak with a British accent). But I never doubted her because if she could speak a foreign language with another foreign accent, most likely she would also be able to speak her own language with another accent. In my opinion, the voice is an actor's most important tool and no one embodies that better than Meryl Streep.

[@dobby6799]

The first time I saw this film, I feel in love with Meryl Streep. Not just her great beauty, which is clearly there, but the indescribable talent I saw. All these years later I find myself rewatching the film about once a year and still amazed by this film. The writing, direction and acting was perfect. I just don't see a way it could have been done better. The sad and powerful story is a classic. I just can't imagine this film being made without the chosen actors.

[@Channel-ew9dr]

I watched the film first and then I read the book. Nothing will ever come close to the experience of reading this particular book. You can never grasp and absorb this level of horror and every time you pick it up again (movie or book) it's a whole new process of grieving. The book has a soul of its own, something I haven't found in another book yet. It's like it casts a spell on you, and , just as mentioned in this video, forces you - no, makes you want - to be a part of its reality. One minute you're Stingo, then you're Nathan, and when you find yourself in the imagined possibility of being Sophie, you can never recover from the book's effect, ever. It's always just there, in the back of your mind. I'll dare to say, you carry it through the rest of your life. Just as Sophie carried the Choice.

[@CaterinaEvClub]

Meryl Streep has always been an enchanting woman, but in this film particularly she is just gorgeous. I don't know why that happens only in the specific movie, but you really can't get your eyes off her... Especially at the part when she looks at the window and her eyes are watery and shiny... Have you noticed that? Other than that, I believe that was the greatest performance she has given in her entire life, even though it would be hard to just pick one. Amazing film, so overwhelming. It has marked me forever, I guess.

[@mrartboy1]

I can't agree more, totally mezmerised by her performance!..the mastery of Polish and German language, you'd think she was a native of both countries.

[@CaterinaEvClub]

Mike Jenkins I could have taken an oath she were, if I hadn't known better!

[@samsong24]

Well said! She's majestic in this film.

[@summer2786]

She's homely

[@rosesulla2616]

@@summer2786 but beautiful!♥️👍

[@strawberrymilc.]

Watched this movie as a reference from Gilmore Girls then fell in love with it. This movie is art. Salute to the great Meryl Streep.

[@richardstuarthill1]

I watched this film 10 years ago and I was truly shocked and haunted by it. A film once seen cannot be forgotten

[@Kathleenkelly70]

Kevin Kline was brilliant in this film. He WAS Nathan. Just a masterpiece!

[@MikeA15206]

I went to see the movie when it was originally released, as I was leaving for the theatre my Mother, who read the book, said, "wait until you see what her choice is." Watching the movie I thought it was going to be her choice between Stingo and Nathan, I am still surprised.

[@christianealshut1123]

Yes, in a way that is her choice in the present, but it is influenced by her choice in the past. It is essentially a choice between life and death, and she ends up choosing Nathan, who embodies "Death as a Bridegroom" for her (which is why she is so fascinated with that Emily Dickinson poem "Because I could not stop for Death").

[@dramamamaof2]

Meryl said she couldn't do more than one take of the selection scene. She told them ahead of time that she would only do it once.

[@debbot2229]

can u blame her, this is the most unspeakable horor the mothers had to go thru during the darkest day s i history!!!!!!!!!!

[@MrsPinkmuffinify]

They actually did it 13 times.. the child actress spoke about it recently.

[@hawktchr8]

You don’t do that to a child once. That little girl wasn’t acting. It’s barbaric.

[@carloscolon1916]

@@MrsPinkmuffinify in an interview she said she was horrified to do that scene she said she read the script she knew the scene was there she read it once she did it once only one take that was it

[@joanie3452]

Who can blame her.

[@jslasher1]

The performances of a lifetime. Indelible. It was an honour to produce the original soundtrack recording for this film.

[@PianoMan62249]

"...[P]erverse search for the same horror that you're escaping from in order to punish yourself for the guilt you feel." What a fantastic assessment of her character! This is, hands down, the best performance ever put on screen. Bar none, no contest for me.

[@XX-gy7ue]

Meryl Streep should have won a Nobel prize for artistic excellence in what she did here - it's just incredible !

[@sagarthorat9175]

Nobel prize is for literature… not for acting.. Oscar’s are there and she got it …🙄

[@eileenkeegan6950]

Sophie's Choice is my favorite all-time movie due to the talented author, William Styron. The book was brought to the big screen by stellar performances by Styron's characters, Stingo, Nathan, and Sophie.

[@davidpietarila699]

This story has haunted me all of my life. It is the one book I simply could not finish. I keep hovering at the edges of the movie, listening to the soundtrack, watching snip it’s at a time, but I can’t take in the whole movie again. It’s simply too tragic. I can’t walk into it again, but neither can I let it go.

[@michaelpoyntz774]

Well said and an accurate emotion for many of us who feel life has to be more than what history proves it to be!

[@DavidN369]

One of the greatest performances in the history of cinema, and Kevin and Peter are right there with her. Accept No Streepstitutes.

[@michaelpoyntz774]

Some 38 years after watching Sophie's Choice and now just watching again the film clip of the pivotal scene where Sophie is forced to decide between her son and daughter ,one being surrendered to virtual immediate death, still brought tears. Superb script and acting of course contributed to my heartbreak, but so to the fact that mankind has a proven history of being so totally ruthless unto the gentlest of souls.

[@kennywood9911]

5:30 ",,, that sort of perverse search for the same horror that you're escaping from, in order to punish yourself for the guilt you feel." Meryl is an observant and deeply empathetic actor.

[@jslasher1]

It is particularly painful for me to watch this film because I produced the sound track album and was associated with the film makers. As brilliant a film as might be imagined. Meryl's performance is nothing short of astounding. And, of course, the late Marvin Hamlisch, who composed the score.

[@michaelpoyntz774]

It takes but seconds listening to the title musical score to freeze my emotions and heartbeat once again. I cried when I saw this movie the first time....being drawn into its memory again...touches me in a way very few other movie releases in my life have done the same. If you were a part of this production....bravo!

[@brigidvanparys2062]

That would be such a hard role to play without getting majorly depressed

[@rosesulla2616]

Cudos to you…superb!

[@isabellarehn]

Yes, Kevin is unstoppable in this role. Truly a thrilling, powerful & unique performance. I adore Meryl too, but Sophie's choice is for me a Kevin Kline - film. He is the engine of this film, an astonishing, primitive force. You can't help but stare at him in every scene he is. Brilliant.

[@matthewfuchs7641]

Read the novel many years after seeing the movie...still remember the opening words... "In those days..."

[@ericday4505]

The scene that everybody talks about, the scene in the movie where she makes that choice, is the most powerful scene in any movie ever. And it beats the rest by a lot. How they pulled it off was sheer brilliance and horror at the same time. The little girl to me is afraid for real, in other words she is truly scared and if that was the case one has to wonder was it worth it. I say yes because one has to respect the art of it, and they could quickly console her, I am talking of the little girl. And maybe it needed to be done. The whole movie was very good, and a great performance by Streep.

[@ericday4505]

Yeah I have seen the Killing Fields and yes it was powerful,not quite at this level here though, I have kind of altered my list a bit, this is still tops, but I have moved up the godfather scene where Brando is telling Mike he never wanted that life for him, that scene kind of summed up Vito Corleone and his character,brilliantly done by Coppola.

[@ericday4505]

+jeremy Film buff Yes that movie is favorite to lots of people, I myself always consider the first two movies as a single picture, but yes that is my all time favorite, and I think best made as well, we sometimes forget that it was well done too.

[@ericday4505]

Hey I have two questions for you and I know you are enjoying the holidays do you know of the movie Ragtime, no one seems to know this movie,Howard Rollins, I think , that is just one question, anyway do you know that movie.

[@ericday4505]

***** a small point, the scene with the choice is not the ending, that is nit picking, but true.

[@KC-to9xl]

This scene is horrifying not solely because her children are taken away from her but because of what she said in front of her children, "take my girl, take the baby" and those were the last words her daughter heard from her mother. And the last words she ever said in front of her daughter.The only other scene that can compare in level of shear horror to this is a scene from Schindler's List where a crowd of women run after their children being driven off in a truck to the crematorium.

[@meryldepp]

A masterpiece.. and Meryl Streep, what a treasure for Hollywood. Thank you so much for posting this. Oh.. Peter Macnicol used to be so cute, he turned weird.. lol

[@bridgetlovedfrankgeddes8352]

Fantastic film x

[@sarahbee3868]

Kevin Kline is phenomenal is this film. It was his first movie and he was perfect.

[@germanshepherdmom1143]

He was later in the “Great Gatsby”.

[@christianealshut1123]

I heard he got picked for Nathan because of his performance as Hamlet shortly before that. You know one of the things in Hamlet is that the title character pretends to be mad and you're not supposed to be able to tell whether he really is mad or not. And he does have a few scenes as Nathan where you have exactly this uncertainty as well, and the tension is almost impoossible to bear. He's truly one of the greatest American actors that ever lived, and when they were about to film the Gone With the Wind sequel I was so hoping they would let him play Rhett Butler (I never liked Timothy Dalton in the part; he's just too English, though otherwise a good actor in his own right).

[@bellasaward8330]

Such a master of her art. I love her.

[@bosslady77]

This is beyond incredible, In my lifetime to be able to read the book, watch the movie and be alive during this Brilliant Authors Life! What a Honor! Oh how I would have loved to have met the Great William Styron! 🙌🙏 #ReadingIsEssential 📚📖

[@hairyscotman1]

the music of this film is perfect....Marvin, you were a genius...Rest in Peace loved this movie...so moving and so poignant in it's relating such raw feelings....Meryl might have been put here for this role...

[@EphemeralProductions]

I've never seen this movie but now I really do want to! It seems like an amazing movie.

[@yojiviriak675]

Certainly one of the greatest films ever

[@donna25871]

To everyone who has seen the movie please read the book as it is just as incredible.

[@mrartboy1]

Was always surprised Kevin Kline never really took off in the movies after this?...he always seemed to play an also-ran part in other stuff, and he's an excellent actor!!

[@stephenfermoyle1498]

+Mike Jenkins you are right

[@CasinoMan2005]

Meryl Streep is an excellent actress.

[@Autostade67]

It is indeed a great shame this film was not included among the nominees for Best Picture (if there is such a thing). I remember it was greeted with a great deal of critical applause, but somehow (it's dark, painful subject matter?) it was not a financial success in any respect - and I think this tends to influence the Academy from time to time. Now 30 yrs on its depth and high concentration of talent esteem it somewhat above other, more celebrated films of '82.

[@oncall21]

This is an amazing film that I still remember. I have just finished the book and if you loved the movie please read the book.

[@omgsolikevalleygirl]

I haven't felt this shattered by a movie in a long long long time... this is the worst thing that can ever happen to a person. Unfortunately these sorts of things really happened in the German death camps... they really did. Oh God no

[@grapiken7766]

Real footage of real suffering victims should not have been used in this video. About the film. It's very powerful. Meryl Streep is amazing in it. I can't watch it again. The ending is too horrific. Too upsetting. The evil in human beings is also echoed, depressingly, in some of the comments on KZbin.

[@grapiken7766]

***** Because the final product here is just that - a product. If your relatives were in that footage would you feel the same? A movie made to make money for a large corporation is very different to a museum that exists for altruistic and humanitarian purposes.

[@amyjkr]

@@grapiken7766 It is not a product any more than the Mona Lisa is a product. It is true art, expressing the human state of suffering that is beyond a single word or image. Calling it a product is the same as calling da Vinci's Last Supper a product. Film is art. Just because you are offended and made to feel a way that is uncomfortable, does nothing to reduce its value. Just because a certain culture pays its artists and actors more than we think is necessary, doesn't reduce the final piece of art in any way. Many, many people who would have been nothing but peasants and beggars were elevated by the artistic contribution they made,. Just because someone or some piece makes money, does't mean it is not art.

[@larrysmith9748]

I think this is one of the best films ever made and full of powerful performances but I have trouble making myself watch it because its so painful...It puts me in a mood for weeks and I can tell myself its fiction but it stays with me because the characters were so real to me.....Does anyone else feel that way? I have the same issue with "Chinatown" and I always stop the DVD before the scene where Evelyn gets shot by her father...

[@ianbrown2677]

Larry Smith Just watched this film for the first time. Thought it was brilliant, very well acted by all, especially Streep. Not sure I ever want to watch it again though - it was way too painful.

[@courtneyrideout7628]

Please watch bridegroom. That left me messed up for months

[@johnmiller2951]

Still a stunning film, after all these years.

[@bobeczek01]

Well my family wasn't particularly exposed to Aushwitz but we are Polish and this whole horror of war touched us for many many generations , it's in our blood. Also I'm a mother ...and I have a boy and a girl :/

[@anitaellenmcgee7430]

Kevin Kline was fabulous

[@SweetBriarRose]

@unika542 I couldn't agree more - he was fantastic in it! He was nominated for BAFTA and Golden Globe for best newcomer/debut, but didn't win. It was actually the second film he made; he came to Sophie's Choice straight from filming "Pirates of Penzance", but the latter took so long to be released, Sophie's Choice came out first.

[@David-ww4ed]

Never seen this movie but would like to but its not available here in Australia not too sure why, Will buy on dvd

[@pinoyidol2006]

Their thoughts are so profound that they're almost trippy.

[@911jehru]

IMHO Streep gave the greatest acting performance. She even solved the problem of a Pole speaking English. Incredible.

[@240ups]

that little girl was 5 years old for REAL! How do you get a performance of shear 5 year old terror out of a 5 year old without it seeming like real terror to the child's mind. I am disturbed with this movie and the questions it raises in myself on the treatment of children in movies!

[@CanoManuelGonzaga]

The children had to practice.

[@shielapullen114]

That scene is very disturbing. And I think about those things too. But in the scene you can see her face is on the verge of tears from the beginning. She probably did that scene several times And I'm sure her mother was on set and could console her at any time. I worry about the poor animals that are put in dangerous situations in movies. I remember seeing a scene in one of those Homeward Bound movies where the cats "falls" into a raging river and a camera was put close to his face while being pulled through the rapid. It is heartbreaking to watch! And that poor cat has no idea it's just for a scene in the movie! It is a real experience for him. Or the cat in that stupid movie Cats Eye who's put in a room that shocks him. Just effed up.

[@Eripumpkin]

shiela pullen Cats, really? I'm no animal lover nor hater but give me a break, Meryl Streep did this scene in only one take and refused to repeat it because she said it was emotionally draining and she is an adult actress, imagine the confusion or mixed feelings that little girl must have felt, I agree that the parents were on the set and everything but I just don't get your comment, what does it have to do with the scene in the first place?.

[@martew902]

She was 4! Know your facts. The girl (now adult ofc) has spoken about it. The crying were not acting she also said.

[@FinleyHarrison-hy2sm]

You do know real children had to really go through stuff like this back then?@@Eripumpkin

[@johnwalters978]

when the ads play I just turn the sound off.

[@XCarfaxAbbeyX]

Ample make this bed, make this bed with awe...

[@a.m.h.vermeeren9941]

best action ever

[@ClaptonDennis]

Maybe she is perfect for the role, but somehow I don't get warm with her. Sigourney Weaver once said she could not like Meryl play a "Single Parent with Cancer. Meryl is best and most authentic when she plays bad or evil roles." Totally agree. And the Director wanted Liv Ullmann for the part, would have been a great Choice, if you pardon the pun. She comes very close to me with her way.

[@luzalgarin9518]

Thank you so much for sharing with me an infamous fragment of the Hitler's Nazi horrendous regimen, via the film. It must have been a painful odyssey it is to recollect such memories and to recount them. The crimes and cruelties committed against my sons and daughters, my fathers and mothers, my brothers and sisters hurt me deeply, regardless their ethnicity and nationality. In Isaiah 2: 4, Jehovah God, the Creator and Source of life, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, promises: "He will be judge among the nations and will settle matters in relation to many peoples. They will turn their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. The nations will no longer raise their swords against each other and learn no more to wage war." My immediate neighbors are Jews and I am a Jehovah's Witness. Their hearts are superior than pure gold by far. They are extremely kind. The gentleman takes care of my trash can every Wednesday without my asking him to do so. They are lovely human beings, and they are not in need of the smallest improvement.

[@XX-gy7ue]

I didn't like this book , BUT the character of SOPHIE should be remembered throughout history !

[@robertmatheus8004]

The saddest parts of this film, for me, are not the ones back in Auschwitz, but all the times Sophie smiles through her pain, like she's trying to overcome her traumas, but they are so strong that they show up on her face effortlessly.

[@Fegga1955]

ty

[@brigidvanparys2062]

The movies like these make my self preservation kick in thinking how could anyone be that evil 😔

[@anitaellenmcgee7430]

Those who survived were meant too so they could tell the world what happened

[@larrysmith9748]

I had a genetic test done and it shows ancestry and M. Streep and I share a "haplo group" which is her Jewish ancestry...I am not and did not know that I had any Jewish blood until a genetic mutation that causes cancer reared its head in our extended family and that gene,the BRCA mutation, has been traced to the Askenazi Jews from Northern Russia...I wonder if Meryl knows that she may have also inherited that risk...

[@swissnor]

Actually SelinaMadel her Dutch ancestors where Jewish they arived in the American colonies in the 17th century.

[@zeynepkaplan-sz9kj]

😢😢😢😢

[@KIMMYSSONG]

God bless

[@dr.nabilarahman4202]

People say its too sad to watch it again.bt I dunno how I can watch ds flick n no of times and cry every time like a mess.myb M nt scared to cry😏 P.S:Meryl Streep is love❤❤❤❤❤

[@kleec0203]

Amazing movie and acting by Meryl but I could only watch it once, too heartbreaking.

[@swissnor]

Meryl Streep is of Jewish ancestry in real life.

[@SweetBriarRose]

@unika542 Yep, too true!

[@somackwright4876]

This has too many meaningß for me.My name is Sophie & so much more........ This film was amazing, but i was to hurt to watch until recently. 😪😪😪

[@glenmeister]

actually she IS part Jewish and I was informed that she is a distant cousin to me.Jews view each other as family,that's why.So there.

[@Doublemg12]

I've never seen this movie

[@Luki_D03]

Stingo was on 24 in Season 6!

[@jackies56tbird]

I knew a man who had a tattoo on his arm, I ask him about it and he told me he and his mother were sent to Auschwitz. I wish I could have talked to him more but...it was not the right time.

[@JRCancio]

Knowing well this movie once was known in Boston a man who after an automobile accident and himself to blame and injured had to make a decison between saving the life of his wife or his unborn child. He did, months later living with that choice he came to another decision he had made the wrong choice and the choice so one could live also died. He could not live with that decision and he himself committed suicide. An entire family lost. Pray thee well you never have to make that kind of decision.

[@glenmeister]

you are so wrong seniorita! it's like saying Spanish is only a language! The DNA company told her that she is part Jewish and they told me I am related to her,and I am 100% Jewish.So there.

[@anitaellenmcgee7430]

Too bad she didn’t meet Stingo first

[@minavamp2811]

the book is so much better than the movie. the only thing that came out good with the movie is meryl streep's performance. other than that the movie as a whole is ok.

[@sarahxbee]

I totally agree. He was robbed.

[@dianelevesque137]

Not easy for her that choice

[@jslasher1]

I honestly can not understand what you are saying. Why can't you spell, capitalise or punctuate?

[@mgtowp.l.7756]

Hollywood Needs To Make A Movie On America's MORGANTHAU PLAN." Tell Both Sides Of The Story. Not Just One Side Of The Story.

[@amyjkr]

First, you spelled it wrong. It's Morgenthau Plan. Second, it was never implemented against Germany. Third, this was a plan designed to demilitarize Germany after a war that left 6 million innocent citizens dead. If you think the Morgenthau Plan was somehow abusive, severe, or out of line, you may be right, and that is why it never reached a level of acceptance by allied countries. But, after allied soldiers witnessed what was happening, how can blame even a severe plan to make sure that wouldn't happen again? The horrors that soldiers encountered would drive any normal human being to extremes.

[@adelemade]

Judaism a race?? One of the 3 biggest religions. And im being ignorant!!! My god what is wrong with this picture.

[@knutkatastrophe2722]

Pure Propaganda

[@Gesundheit888]

Maryl Streep was born in 1949 - this is nonsense!

[@vampirf1539]

He's talking about someone he once knew who led to the story. Not Meryl.

[@Dontincludeme]

Emily Fisher No, she's born in 49.

[@gerard1657]

+Gittl G. Are you joking? Do you actually pay attention to what's said? He is talking about the person he knew who was the inspiration for Sophie

[@petercallaghan9851]

Great actress but lousy political choices.

[@jessebacon817]

Peter Callaghan so if she was a right wingnut, she'd be perfect. Straight white men and their controlling nature of American ideology.

[@FinleyHarrison-hy2sm]

Well why are you here on a fan page then go watch some one else.

[@FinleyHarrison-hy2sm]

Oh so you don't think injured veterans should be seen?

[@summer2786]

I used to really like her until I started seeing arrogance , much like what Julia Roberts has.

[@FinleyHarrison-hy2sm]

How she took care of John on his death bed even though they really didn't even know each other super well. How many people would do that? She worked to pay his bills it is still painful to her to this day. She gives not only money but her time to lots of things. She is an amazing mom and grandma.

[@pillbox1240]

This movie was too depressing