Rating: 
Summary: suffer the little children
Review: An excellent movie. A little gloomy. It seems to me that the major sufferers in this movie were Mrs Soffels children. She left her 3 children, sacrificed is a better word, for the sexual pleasures of a murderer. That aside, Diane Keaton was wonderful in the part of Mrs Soffel. She was exquisit. I doubt that the real Mrs. Soffel looked anything like Diane. The movie ended without telling us what happened to her or her lover and his brother. I wish I knew. I can only guess that the brothers were executed and Mrs. Soffel died in prison. Why didn't the movie tell us?
Rating:
Summary: suffer the little children
Review: An excellent movie. A little gloomy. It seems to me that the major sufferers in this movie were Mrs Soffels children. She left her 3 children, sacrificed is a better word, for the sexual pleasures of a murderer. That aside, Diane Keaton was wonderful in the part of Mrs Soffel. She was exquisit. I doubt that the real Mrs. Soffel looked anything like Diane. The movie ended without telling us what happened to her or her lover and his brother. I wish I knew. I can only guess that the brothers were executed and Mrs. Soffel died in prison. Why didn't the movie tell us?
Rating: 
Summary: so so
Review: Beautifully shot, with an interesting story. But there's really not a whole lot TO the story, really, and it is rather slow. And while Diane Keaton hasn't aged a day since this film was made, Gibson now looks a million years older than in this movie! Just shows what chain smoking can do to your skin!! END
Rating: 
Summary: Touching with Wonderful Performances
Review: Diane Keaton gives a remarkable and haunting performance as Mrs. Keaton. Her character stays with you long after the movie's end. Simply brilliant!
Rating:
Summary: Mrs. Thingamigiggy
Review: From what I have read, this masterpiece nearly torpedoed Australian director Gillian Anderson's "brilliant" career. It was vilified in Hollywood (hence the derisive name-Mrs. thingamiggiggy) before its release and never got the distribution or acclaim it actually deserved. ... All that said, Mrs. Soffel is a really unusual (and partially true) story about two unlikely people, Kate Soffel, a repressed, Bible-reading warden's wife and Ed Biddle, a death row prisioner, who use each other for their own ends and ultimately achieve those ends. This is not so much a movie about imprisionment but rather about freedom and its costs. Excellent script, great supporting cast, haunting locations, riveting performances, however, this moody atmospheric piece is somewhat slow-going. It is very rewarding for it glimpses into Victorian family life and Mel Gibson's eyes.
Rating:
Summary: Mrs. Thingamigiggy
Review: From what I have read, this masterpiece nearly torpedoed Australian director Gillian Anderson's "brilliant" career. It was vilified in Hollywood (hence the derisive name-Mrs. thingamiggiggy) before its release and never got the distribution or acclaim it actually deserved. ... All that said, Mrs. Soffel is a really unusual (and partially true) story about two unlikely people, Kate Soffel, a repressed, Bible-reading warden's wife and Ed Biddle, a death row prisioner, who use each other for their own ends and ultimately achieve those ends. This is not so much a movie about imprisionment but rather about freedom and its costs. Excellent script, great supporting cast, haunting locations, riveting performances, however, this moody atmospheric piece is somewhat slow-going. It is very rewarding for it glimpses into Victorian family life and Mel Gibson's eyes.
Rating:
Summary: But I never watch prision movies!
Review: Guess I had been on another planet since the 1970s because I had never seen a Mel Gibson movie until this one. His performance was so compelling that I have now seen almost every movie he ever made (this is really his only good movie by the way). Mrs. Soffell is a really unusual (and true) love story between two unlikely people, a repressed, Bible reading warden's wife and a death row prisioner at the turn of the 20th century. Diane Keeton is so believable that ultimately this movie is not about imprisionment but rather about freedom and its costs. As is so often the case in real life, her liberation means her children end up the big losers sadly enough. This moody atmospheric piece is somewhat slow-going but very rewarding for it glimpses into Victorian family life and Mel Gibson's eyes.
Rating:
Summary: another movie to add to her collection
Review: I am a big fan of Keaton's and even though this was not as good as some of her movies it was interesting to see her work with Gibson. I think the movie was a little slow moving but if you are a fan like me you are able to sit through it and watch it.
Rating: 
Summary: Moving and reflective of complex characters
Review: I bought this video because I wanted to complete my collection of everything Mel Gibson has ever made. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. People who think it is slow have to realize how repressed the times were, and how repressed Mrs. Soffel herself was. The darkness and slow pace reflect Mrs. Soffel's spiritual and personal emptiness and depression. In the movie, she has just recovered from a three month bout of intense depression. Ed Biddle himself has barely escaped a suicide attempt, and talks continuously of his own death. Both these people are desperately unhappy and lonely. They turn to one another in their desperation and cling to one another for what they both know is just a brief, brief time, one last futile attempt to grasp some beauty and truth and meaning in their lives. I found the character of Ed Biddle to be richly contradictory and complicated. He was a very confused and lonely person. So was Mrs. Soffel. Their flight from their own emptiness is so poignant and sad, I don't see how anyone could fail to be touched by this movie.
Rating:
Summary: SATISFYING
Review: I love the steely, snowy look of this movie, and its bizarre, infinitely compelling love story. Diane Keaton, one of the best screen actresses ever, here portrays a woman who is teetering on madness; that we never really know her state of sanity or Mel Gibson's true intentions only adds to the mystery and desperateness of the story, which by all accounts is true. The warmth of the warden's home, at Christmastime no less, contrasted with the chill of the Pittsburgh snow and the brutality contained within that prison, is remarkably effective. Gillian Armstrong directs like a painter with a brush, and every scene contains a stark beauty. I thought the chemistry between Gibson and Keaton was electric. Mark Isham's spare and original score punctuates the tragedy and isolation in these characters in a very effective way; it is a musical score that never panders or overstates, but quietly does the trick. It is not a classic film, but it does pull you along, and there are plenty of wise choices along the way. If you do not mind taking an emotional journey without an uplift, this is for you.
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