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Bernard and Doris

Play trailer Poster for Bernard and Doris TV-14 2008 1h 43m Drama LGBTQ+ Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 3 Reviews 55% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Tobacco heiress Doris Duke (Susan Sarandon) develops an unlikely friendship with her butler, Bernard Lafferty (Ralph Fiennes).

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Bernard and Doris

Critics Reviews

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Peter Travers Rolling Stone 01/30/2008
3.5/4
This stunner of a movie is so far under the radar you'll have to go to HBO to find it. Get crackin'. It's the hip antidote to multiplex junk such as Mad Money and Meet the Spartans. Go to Full Review
Don Willmott Filmcritic.com 02/25/2008
3/5
Bernard and Doris is a fun enough diversion, but it's wishy-washy and doesn't dig dive enough into comedy, tragedy, sympathy, suspense, or anything else to make it ultimately memorable. Go to Full Review
Rob Gonsalves Rob's Movie Vault 02/09/2008
A-
Keeps sentimentality at a minimum, and takes its potential cliches (the rich hellraiser, the gay butler) and finds something fresh in them. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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David G @David391 6d Not good. If you take the "it's a true story" away from the narrative this is one of the worst I've seen. Why 2 all time great actors signed up for this is a mystery. See more joe d @Welshboy Jan 26 I thought I would love it, but how wrong I was. Had all the ingredients but badly mis-cast and not much of a script to fall back on.. See more steve d 06/21/2020 Strong performances especially by Fiennes make it worth a watch. See more 04/29/2020 The seventh art is changing. There are many things concerning the people's idea when it comes to appreciate a movie. Archetypes and cliché are pretty handy for an opinion.300 movie channels, Mega-Wide Screens and Series (ultra-violence comes with it), etc, are partly responsible for this turn. As that film stands exactly on the opposite of those trends, I approached it with circonspection but ended up with a forgotten feeling and the joy of having recovered a fully alive emotion. See more 12/09/2019 Descent into alcoholism, the descent into serious illness & aging. Both characters are facing their own challenges. I will never forget the amazing heart breaking last scene with Susan Sarandon eyes looking communication no words, stroke, only with the intention for loving kindness, intimacy and the soul searching eyes of someone drinking in life deeply and hungrily as they see everything, feel everything internal & external. Best ever death scene. A woman who in real life only grew richer, set up a beautiful breathtaking Hawaii based Islamic Art Museum. Months to get tickets. Scholarships for students to study Islamic arts and dance. It's a loving tribute to a great philanthropist and a woman ahead of her time. I gave it 4/5. I was gripped to the last scene. See more 04/17/2017 Lacking but good Acting. Doris Duke had a interesting and troubled life but this movie did not capture that..things were dulled down. Would have been better as a Short HBO series. That way more time could have been spent. See more Read all reviews
Bernard and Doris

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Movie Info

Synopsis Tobacco heiress Doris Duke (Susan Sarandon) develops an unlikely friendship with her butler, Bernard Lafferty (Ralph Fiennes).
Director
Bob Balaban
Screenwriter
Hugh Costello
Production Co
Trigger Street Independent, Burnside Entertainment , Little Bird Productions, Chicagofilms
Rating
TV-14
Genre
Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 18, 2016
Runtime
1h 43m
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