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Conceiving Ada

Play trailer Poster for Conceiving Ada Released Feb 19, 1999 1h 24m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
83% Tomatometer 12 Reviews 58% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
A woman (Francesca Faridany) researching cybertechnology communicates with Victorian spiritual mentor Ada Byron King (Tilda Swinton).

Critics Reviews

View All (12) Critics Reviews
Edward Guthmann San Francisco Chronicle Rated: 3/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Marc Savlov Austin Chronicle Rated: 3.5/5 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Dave Giannini InSession Film Among other thematic areas, it is particularly effective and meditative regarding feminism and the “place” of women throughout time. Feb 27, 2024 Full Review Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid The entire package has a loony, uncommonly intelligent combination that could be appealing for adventurous viewers. Oct 1, 2010 Full Review Jim Lane Sacramento News & Review Rated: 1/5 Aug 7, 2008 Full Review Maria Garcia Film Journal International There is enough unbroken time with Swinton's Ada to make watching Conceiving Ada worthwhile. Jan 8, 2007 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (8) audience reviews
Audience Member Has a wildly intriguing premise and it's interesting to ponder on what the filmmakers were tapping into but it's a clunky film in terms of dialogue and storytelling. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Tilda Swinton saves an otherwise pointless 90 minutes. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Película poco conocida que realmente vale la pena. La interpretación de Tilda Swinton en el papel de Ada es una verdadera delicia. La historia es una mezcla de fantasía con documental; respetando fielmente los datos que tenemos sobre Ada Byron y extrapolando astutamente otros tantos. Uno de estos detalles, que me encanto, es que muestran que existió una amistad entre Ada y Mary Shelley (Autora de Frankenstein) algo que hasta ahora nunca lo he encontrado referido en algún texto biográfico sobre los personajes, pero que siempre he sospechado que ocurrió. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Audience Member Sort of a loopy viewing experience, but this hybrid biopic of 19th female mathematician and Lloyd Byron daughter Ada King held my attention because of the novelty and richness of its ideas, and, I must say, the truly inventive casting, which include not only the divine Tilda Swinton, but Karen Black (!), Timothy Leary, and Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow, with music by The Residents! Needless to say, a thoroughly San Francisco experience. At its heart, this is an exploration of code as craft and consciousness, which allows one to make allowances for the fairly amateurish effects (though I did enjoy the composited virtual Victoriana). Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member A computer programer (modern times) finds a way to tap into the psyche of Ada Byron, considered to be the first "computer programer" (She wrote the code). I was dubious about this film, and I'll admit that I rented it because of Tilda Swinton , but I was taken on a journey, which is why I love film. Worth watching, but you must be present to get the full impact. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member Some years ago I made a short list of pioneering women of science, and quoted it to several women friends of mine, to see if they knew who any of them were. As I recall, it included Marie Curie, Valentina Tereshkova, Sally Ride, Rosalind Franklin and Ada Lovelace. Everyone knew Marie Curie, but I didn't get a single hit on any of the others. Why should this be? I've sometimes heard women talk as they think there's some male-driven conspiracy to keep women out of the history of science, or other disciplines. Yet when I inquire into the matter, I usually find that they've never made any attempt to find out anything about such women. It's not as if anyone's stopping them. The information is readily available to anyone who cares to go looking for it. Maybe it's not because they're women, but because they were scientists. Let's be honest, I've no doubt I could quote such names as (for example) Michael Faraday, Gottfried Leibniz, Max Planck, Neils Bohr, or Pierre-Simon Laplace to any of my male friends and get nothing but a blank stare. I'm sure they'd all recognise the names of football players, though. Well, so much for that. Moving on to the subject of the actual movie under discussion, if you do have a desire to learn about women in science, there might be better places to start looking. Even though it stars the always interesting Tilda Swinton, I must say that I don't find this film terribly engaging. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Conceiving Ada

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis A woman (Francesca Faridany) researching cybertechnology communicates with Victorian spiritual mentor Ada Byron King (Tilda Swinton).
Director
Lynn Hershman-Leeson
Producer
Lynn Hershman-Leeson, Henry S. Rosenthal
Screenwriter
Lynn Hershman-Leeson, Eileen Jones, Sadie Plant, Betty A. Toole
Distributor
Fox Lorber
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 19, 1999, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 17, 2020
Runtime
1h 24m
Sound Mix
Dolby, Surround