Agora

R

2009

2 hr. 6 min.

Adventure

History

Drama

Romance

List

56%

95 Reviews

Tomatometer

65%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In the 4th century A.D., astronomer and philosopher Hypatia (Rachel Weisz) teaches her scientific beliefs to a class of male students. Among them is lovestruck slave Davus (Max Minghella), the equally smitten Orestes (Oscar Isaac) and young Christian man Synesius (Rupert Evans). Hypatia dismisses all of their advances, but this romantic drama pales in comparison to a rising battle between Christians and pagans on the streets of soon-to-be war-torn Alexandria.

Read More

Read Less

Critics Consensus

Noble goals and a gripping performance from Rachel Weisz can't save Agora from its muddled script, uneven acting, and choppy editing.

Read Critics Reviews

Sarah L

Anyone who cares about America needs to watch this movie! It's a brilliant preview of the tragedy that awaits us if we allow Christian fascists to take over the government. This movie, alongside Elaine Pagels's book The Origins of Satan, tells you all you need to know about what established Christianity has been since the beginning--a sales and marketing front for the greedy and would-be powerful, preying on the ignorant and destroying knowledge.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/27/23

Full Review

Celtic R

The story of Hypatia is one of the great stories from the ancient world. Like some of the other stories about ancient religion and philosophy, the tale has been interpreted, and reinterpreted, and twisted around, and "improved" by factions that have something to sell. This movie has its faults. Historians have made their complaints. Still, the movie introduces one of the great women in intellectual history and it raises important questions about coexistence, government, education, and other topics that need attention in the 21st century. Some thinking will be required. If you're searching for easy answers and entertainment, this is not a movie that you'll enjoy. If you're trying to understand how and why today's bigotry started, it's a film that will be helpful.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/02/23

Full Review

Andy L

Such a thought provoking and beautiful film. Even though there are some rather large inaccuracies, it captivates the upheaval and thrill of the time. I love the aerial shots and how they set the tone for you to simply observe a the world that we are simultaneously from and not from (our planet and the world we inherited and inhabit but in a different time). It's interesting how the arena is the same. A very thought provoking film.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/31/23

Full Review

Nicolas S

Splendide. A movie who need to be study in colege and school.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

06/07/23

Full Review

alex k

Brilliant & very cerebral. Don't watch it if you're a fundamentalist religious type

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

david l

I am a huge fan of Alejandro Amenabar, so imagine my crushing disappointment after watching Agora, a total misfire in every sense of that word. Here is a movie that was supposed to be about the importance of science, yet all of those sequences focusing on scientific theories and ideas were either boring or pretentious. As for its take on religion, it's horribly biased and laughably caricaturist as the Christians here are depicted in the most cartoony way possible. Couple that with the fact that nothing that we get in this movie ever happened in real life and you've got one of the most historically inaccurate and shamelessly propagandist historical films ever created. Rachel Weisz is terrific, but even the story of Hypatia was rushed, badly written and emotionally ineffective. The production design is tremendous, but the costumes are anachronistic and the editing is atrocious. Watching this chaotic dud, I could not believe that Amenabar directed it, and that's still hard to take.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Alejandro Amenábar

Director

Rachel Weisz

Hypatia

Max Minghella

Davus

Oscar Isaac

Orestes

Ashraf Barhom

Ammonius

Michaël Lonsdale

Theon

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

12%

48%

W.E.

63%

50%

Anna Karenina

66%

65%

Curse of the Golden Flower

10%

42%

Tulip Fever

TRAILER

for Tulip Fever

40%

46%

River Queen

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Critics Consensus: Sex and the City 2 Lacks “Sex” Appeal

Cannes 2009: The Tomato Report – Johnnie To Takes Vengeance in Cannes

View more photos

Brandon Judell

indieWire

A humorless feminist toga epic that fascinates with its intelligence and its abhorrence of the birth of Judeo/Christian culture.

Oct 31, 2012

Full Review

Rene Rodriguez

Miami Herald

All brain, no heart.

Rated: 2/4

Jan 31, 2011

Full Review

Cliff Doerksen

Chicago Reader

This Spanish-produced period drama is pretty dreadful: the drama is torpid, the astronomy lessons pedantic, and the spear-and-sandal production values flat-out cheesy.

Jan 3, 2011

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

By the end, the audience comes no closer to understanding why Hypatia is driven by her quest for truth. Her character is merely present to ask these questions, so that the viewer might ask analogous questions today.

Rated: 2.5/4

Aug 3, 2023

Full Review

Kristin Battestella

InSession Film

[It] wonderfully tackles the 4th century strife between paganism, slavery, philosophy, science, Judaism, and Christianity in Alexandria before the fall of the Roman Empire.

Jul 25, 2023

Full Review

Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Agora is a splendid history lesson… it should be accepted as an enigma, and confronted like a dare. [Full review in Spanish]

Jul 20, 2022

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

In the 4th century A.D., astronomer and philosopher Hypatia (Rachel Weisz) teaches her scientific beliefs to a class of male students. Among them is lovestruck slave Davus (Max Minghella), the equally smitten Orestes (Oscar Isaac) and young Christian man Synesius (Rupert Evans). Hypatia dismisses all of their advances, but this romantic drama pales in comparison to a rising battle between Christians and pagans on the streets of soon-to-be war-torn Alexandria.

Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Executive Producer: Simón de Santiago, Jaime Ortiz de Artiñano
Screenwriter: Alejandro Amenábar, Mateo Gil
Production Co: Telecinco Cinema, Himenóptero
Rating: R (Some Violence)
Genre: Adventure, History, Drama, Romance
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 30, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $617.8K