Death in Love | Rotten Tomatoes

Death in Love

R

Released Jul 17, 2009

1 hr. 37 min.

Drama

List

45%

20 Reviews

Tomatometer

33%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Two sons struggle to deal with their mother's affair with the Nazi doctor who experimented on them.

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Premiered Dec 15

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Critics Consensus

Death in Love has the depth of its convictions, but not even the game efforts of a talented cast are enough to overcome this drama's stilted story and unlikable characters.

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Todd C

When this came across my feed, I saw the cast and the plot and I thought it would be great and I wondered how I missed it. I mean: Josh Lucas, Jacqueline Bisset, Adam Brody, Lucas Haas...I thought it would be worth a watch. Well, I'm giving it 1 star. I think it tried to be artsy while really being mostly disgusting without a likeable character in the whole movie. It is quite pretentious and rarely intriguing. I will say that I was impressed with most of the sex scenes. They were steamy, but they seemed real. Not like we usually see in these types of films. All the people having sex were not always super hot and in shape. I honestly liked that part of the film. Great actors, but an unbelievable story that never really took off and was confusing at times. I hated the ending...other than the tie in to the first scene in the movie. That was a nice "bow" to put on this pig. I won't say more because it would be a spoiler. It really is a movie about wretched people living wretched lives and really no hope for the future. If I had to blame someone for this miserable movie, it is not the actors...it has to fall on the shoulders of the writer/director Boaz Yakin. I was feeling good about the film in the opening scenes of the "younger mother" in a concentration camp being sent to the Nazi that performs experiments on the Jewish prisoners and she uses her good looks and smarts to seduce him so she can stay alive. Right there is the beginning of what could be an interesting plot/story. It went downhill from there. One good thing I can say is that it will stay with you if you stick through the whole film. Man, I wish they would of had different twists and different storylines to follow.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

11/28/23

Full Review

Rich T

A challenging, confrontational, but ultimately emotionally-rewarding watch. This is a fantastically underrated and underseen film that explores familial legacy trauma and sexual repression in an an uncompromising way usually reserved for literary novels.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Wasted my time on this movie. Not even deserve a half star🙄

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

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Audience Member

This film does not pull any punch when it comes to gruesome and explicit scenes. I did not understand the point of this film it was very boring, and some scenes were just out of it. This feels like a very personal film but unfortunately the few powerful scenes in there, the great performance of Lucas, Bisset, and great ideas can't save a weak script and a weak story. So for this being one horrible film that just end up bring one of the worst movies out there, I give " Death In Love" an F.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Boaz Yakin has created a provocative, perverse, angry and highly uncomfortable film that has one too many twists for its own good. I suspect the audience who will like this film is much smaller than the one who will hate it. I found it to a fascinating and surreal exploration into psychological and pathological self-loathing. The use of the The Holocaust is a very bold and repugnant choice -- but this film is absolutely riveting. The acting is top notch. Bisset gives a solid and unforgettable performance. While the film verges on prevention is somehow manages to pull back just enough to leave an impact. Yakin's film is as ambitious as it is disgusting. There are so many dark themes regarding human nature and survival it is both impossible to simply dismiss it and nearly impossible to fully embrace it. But, in my opinion, this is a haunting and powerful little film. Be warned: a movie about the darkness of humanity, pain and survival is not going to be suitable for popcorn and a date.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

james b

That was kind of a creepy movie. All about the emotional detachment for love that is felt by a woman who was in a Nazi concentration camp, and how that detachment for love kind of runs through this woman's family as she grows older. Now her sons suffer from emotional detachment, and struggle to show their love for others. Interesting, but the way that it was presented was kind of creepy to me.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Boaz Yakin

Director

Josh Lucas

Eldest Son

Adam Brody

Talent Agent

Jacqueline Bisset

The Mother

Lukas Haas

Youngest Son

Jamie Hurley

Woman Tending Child

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Ella Taylor

Village Voice

Posing as a study in evil, Death in Love is claptrap that confuses bile with art.

Jul 7, 2010

Full Review

Matt Noller

Slant Magazine

Say what you will about Boaz Yakin's epically awful Death in Love, but it wastes no time letting you know what you're in for.

Rated: .5/4

Jul 23, 2009

Full Review

Gary Goldstein

Los Angeles Times

Death in Love is occasionally pretentious but always riveting.

Rated: 4/5

Jul 17, 2009

Full Review

Nora Lee Mandel

Film-Forward.com

Even as the frustrated audience can already see the truths, secrets, and manipulations congeal around the characters, they seem impotent to stop being victims.

Rated: 3/10

Jul 18, 2009

Full Review

Wade Major

Boxoffice Magazine

A strangely indulgent and highly personal film seemingly crafted less as a piece of entertainment than a work of expression from an increasingly conflicted artist.

Rated: 2/5

Jul 17, 2009

Full Review

Robert Levin

Critic's Notebook

The story of miserable people living miserable lives without redemption, humor or hope.

Rated: 1.5/4

Jul 16, 2009

Full Review

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Synopsis

Two sons struggle to deal with their mother's affair with the Nazi doctor who experimented on them.

Director: Boaz Yakin
Screenwriter: Boaz Yakin
Distributor: Screen Media Ventures
Production Co: DI Love
Rating: R (Nudity|Disturbing Violent Content|Language|Graphic Sexual Content)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 17, 2009, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 3, 2016

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