The Homecoming

PG

1973

1h 51m

Drama

List

86%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

78%

Audience Score

250+ Ratings

British philosophy professor Teddy (Michael Jayston) comes back home from America the first time in nine years to visit his father, uncle and two brothers and introduce them to his wife, Ruth (Vivien Merchant). The family's working class background is vastly different from Teddy and Ruth's academic lifestyle, and the homecoming is uncomfortable for Teddy. But, unexpectedly, Ruth fits right in. While the men compete with one another, she not only enjoys herself but earns their respect.

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Pauline Kael

New Yorker

This movie comes across as very corny-tricky and cheaply theatrical.

Sep 15, 2023

Full Review

Judith Crist

New York Magazine/Vulture

This is a work so sparkling with insight, so soaked in the mystery that lies between the lips that move and the words that emerge, that the closer the camera brings us to its bitter heart the better.

Jun 29, 2020

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

It's weird. The most improbable things happen in The Homecoming, and its characters treat each other with total contempt, and yet somehow we ARE moved.

Rated: 4/4

Oct 23, 2004

Full Review

Howard Pearson

Deseret News (Salt Lake City)

Drama buffs should find the production excellent. The acting by Cyril Cusack, Ian Holm, Michael Jayston, Vivien Merchant, Terence Rigby and Paul Rogers is brilliant.

Aug 16, 2021

Full Review

Dick Lochte

Los Angeles Free Press

It's Pinter's words themselves that make this show.

Dec 17, 2019

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Aug 27, 2005

Full Review

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Alec B

Its a little shocking that Pinter's play works as a movie at all, but it is perfectly cast which is the most crucial part of staging his work.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/09/24

Full Review

Audience Member

Its a little shocking that Pinter's play works as a movie at all, but it is perfectly cast which is the most crucial part of staging his work.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Fucking kill me there's still an hour left.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Brilliant....but you wont like it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Very well-regarded Pinter play gets turned into highly regarded film, but I just don't get it. It's not that all the characters are fairly horrible people, and it's not that the situations pass the point of realism. It's that the entire efficient nature of the plotting and the dialogue, the way that the exposition occurs, is much too programmatic. At one point, one of the characters says of his family, "You're just objects. You just...move about." That's how I felt about how Pinter wrote everyone in the play: solely as avatars for his point of view.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A man returns home with his wife, who draws the sexual desire of the rest of the men in the household. The source material is one of the best plays I've ever seen or read. Pinter's subtext and pregnant pauses are on full display in this masterpiece. But there's something special about live theater that isn't captured in this film, despite the compelling nature of Ian Holm's pensive glares. The tension on stage isn't as palpable as it is on film, but that doesn't change the fact that watching this film is a remarkable experience.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

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Peter Hall

Director

Cyril Cusack

Sam

Ian Holm

Lenny

Michael Jayston

Teddy

Vivien Merchant

Ruth

Paul Rogers

Max

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Synopsis

British philosophy professor Teddy (Michael Jayston) comes back home from America the first time in nine years to visit his father, uncle and two brothers and introduce them to his wife, Ruth (Vivien Merchant). The family's working class background is vastly different from Teddy and Ruth's academic lifestyle, and the homecoming is uncomfortable for Teddy. But, unexpectedly, Ruth fits right in. While the men compete with one another, she not only enjoys herself but earns their respect.

Director: Peter Hall
Producer: Ely Landau
Screenwriter: Harold Pinter
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (DVD): Jun 11, 2007
Runtime: 1h 51m

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