Morvern Callar

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Morvern Callar

R

Released Dec 20, 2002

1h 37m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

85%

Tomatometer

86 Reviews

74%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

When her boyfriend commits suicide, unambitious Glasgow clerk Morvern Callar (Samantha Morton) invents various stories to explain his absence. After several days, she chops up and buries the body. She then finds a novel he completed before killing himself and sends it to several publishing houses as her own work. When the book is bought, Morvern uses her first payment to take a Spanish vacation with her best friend, Lana (Kathleen McDermott), which turns out to be a surprising emotional journey.

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Critics Consensus

Morton quietly makes this quirky, enigmatic mood piece a compelling watch.

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Alyx Vesey

Bitch Media

Ultimately provides little resolution for our tough heroine, and the way the film visualizes this discontent continues to haunt at least one viewer.

Jan 7, 2021

Full Review

Joshua Rothkopf

In These Times

Morvern Callar isn't just cool, it's downright arctic: Ramsay takes her alienation neat with rarely a chaser of glam.

Mar 16, 2020

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Kristin M. Jones

Film Comment Magazine

While [Lynne] Ramsay's sensibility is entirely her own, it approaches the rawness of work by Nan Goldin or Richard Billingham.

Feb 14, 2018

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Marya E. Gates

Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack)

A wonderfully mordant and melancholic Holiday film.

Feb 13, 2024

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Josh Goller

Spectrum Culture

It may play fast and loose with trauma, occasionally striving to be too hip for its own good, but it’s nevertheless a compelling portrait of one young woman’s attempt to find catharsis in the face of grief.

Aug 11, 2023

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Rob Gonsalves

Rob's Movie Vault

Simply the latest chapter in what promises to be a most strange, idiosyncratic, and beautiful body of work.

Rated: A

Sep 19, 2022

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J M

A truly hauntingly tragic, beautiful, and mesmerizing film.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/12/25

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S R

A different story that was tragic and sad. A woman stealing her lovers story after killing him and trying her best to live from the proceeds and her search for purpose. I enjoyed the Spain trip, but ultimately I was not happy with the end result. Saw on Amazon. BFI's 250 list.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

11/10/24

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Gareth v

A surreal and dark movie that is carried by the performance of Sam Morton. The subject matter and style certainly won't appeal to everyone's taste.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/22/23

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isla s

This is very much an arty/indie sort of a film. I'd say its about self isolation (in pre-COVID times, of course) and self re-invention or self expression. The plot was pretty slow and I didn't feel there was a lot of substance to it, although it sounded like it might be quite a poignant film, given the synopsis but that wasn't really the case. I thought Samantha Morton did reasonably well in the titular role but she didn't have much to work on, as far as the script is concerned. The use of light and choice of music is reasonably good, in terms of creating a sense of isolation and making you perhaps wonder about whats going on in the characters mind but I felt frustrated that we're not shown more, somehow. There were one or two plot issues I felt as well but I won't go into those as they'd constitute spoilers. I wouldn't especially recommend this film, no.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

Samantha Morton plays a strange lost young woman who deals with grief (after her boyfriend commits suicide) in very unusual ways. As a big fan of Lynne Ramsey I expected to like this film more. Though the heroine's journey is full of whimsy and surprises, somehow it left me cold while watching the film. At the end I felt nothing despite Morton's intimately-grounded performance. But as days and weeks passed I found myself still thinking about the film and its idiosyncratic protagonist. One thing I'm not ambivalent about - this film has a great soundtrack.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

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Audience Member

Not sure what the fuss was about… Presents as a character study, but doesn't have anything noteworthy to it, nor do the characters. Instantly forgettable

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Synopsis

When her boyfriend commits suicide, unambitious Glasgow clerk Morvern Callar (Samantha Morton) invents various stories to explain his absence. After several days, she chops up and buries the body. She then finds a novel he completed before killing himself and sends it to several publishing houses as her own work. When the book is bought, Morvern uses her first payment to take a Spanish vacation with her best friend, Lana (Kathleen McDermott), which turns out to be a surprising emotional journey.

Director: Lynne Ramsay
Producer: George Faber, Charles Pattinson, Robyn Slovo
Screenwriter: Liana Dognini, Lynne Ramsay, Alan Warner
Distributor: Cowboy Pictures
Production Co: Film Council, BBC Films
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 20, 2002, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 22, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $267.2K
Runtime: 1h 37m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby SR, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Dolby Stereo
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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