The Bookshop

PG

Released Aug 24, 2018

1 hr. 53 min.

Drama

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List

58%

112 Reviews

Tomatometer

51%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Florence Green, a free-spirited widow, puts grief behind her and risks everything to open up a bookshop -- the first such shop in the sleepy seaside town of Hardborough, England. But this mini social revolution soon brings her fierce enemies: she invites the hostility of the town's less prosperous shopkeepers and also crosses Mrs. Gamart, Harborough's vengeful, embittered alpha female who is a wannabe doyenne of the local arts scene.

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Critics Consensus

A rare adaptation that sticks too closely to its source material, The Bookshop's meticulously crafted world building gets lost in its meandering pace.

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ludo c

An absolute disaster of a movie. Intrigued by movies about the book world I was interested in watching this but it's a poor "Chocolate" type wannabe but failing at every level. The direction, screenplay and editing are at the level of a poor student film without the excuse of being someone's first project. The pacing is off and progression of the story utterly slow where it does not need to be and jumping ahead where it should not. No tension and no emotion, except when it feels false. No supporting soundtrack when there should be one and laughable when there is one. The very talented actors look like they know they are in a bad movie, visibly uncomfortable and painful to watch. A waste.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

11/10/23

Full Review

Renaldo D

The narrative is slow and some performances are not interesting.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/08/23

Full Review

Marit R

3,5 stars. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the Potato peel society film.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

08/21/23

Full Review

Alex D

Lovely intimate movie. Apparently, either you love it or hate it. Give it a try.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

08/12/23

Full Review

Steve L

Good acting, good story, interesting setting, relaxed pace, what more could you want from a movie?

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/20/23

Full Review

Jan P

It was excellent. My husband contends that people who do not love this film find it too cerebral... or maybe it's because we both worked in book stores?

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/10/23

Full Review

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Isabel Coixet

Director

Emily Mortimer

Florence Green

Bill Nighy

Edmund Brundish

Patricia Clarkson

Violet Gamart

Hunter Tremayne

Mr. Keble

Honor Kneafsey

Christine

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The Bookshop: Trailer 1

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Nell Minow

AWFJ.org

Fitzgerald's book about the ruthlessness and resolve that can be glimpsed underneath apparent graciousness and courtesy is brought to the screen by Isabel Coixet with outstanding performances by Patricia Clarkson and Emily Mortimer.

Sep 30, 2021

Full Review

Andrea Gronvall

Chicago Reader

The ever-winsome Emily Mortimer glows as a struggling widow who opens a bookstore in her insular coastal town.

Mar 4, 2020

Full Review

Moira MacDonald

Seattle Times

The Bookshop is a gentle, quiet film in which not a whole lot happens... But it's beautifully evocative of the musty, inviting smell of a bookshop on a cool day, or of the nostalgic pleasure of old photographs

Rated: 3.5/4

Sep 5, 2018

Full Review

Jennifer Merin

AWFJ.org

Adapted from Penelope Fitzgerald's novel, Catalan director Isabel Coixet's The Bookshop is a rather bookish film - in a very good and comforting way.

Sep 30, 2021

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Betsy Bozdech

AWFJ.org

Like the town it's set in, The Bookshop is a small, intimately observed drama with an undercurrent of melancholy.

Sep 30, 2021

Full Review

Nikki Baughan

AWFJ.org

Emily Mortimer delivers another glorious performance in The Bookshop.

Sep 30, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

Florence Green, a free-spirited widow, puts grief behind her and risks everything to open up a bookshop -- the first such shop in the sleepy seaside town of Hardborough, England. But this mini social revolution soon brings her fierce enemies: she invites the hostility of the town's less prosperous shopkeepers and also crosses Mrs. Gamart, Harborough's vengeful, embittered alpha female who is a wannabe doyenne of the local arts scene.

Director: Isabel Coixet
Executive Producer: Manuel Monzón, Paz Recolons, Fernando Riera
Screenwriter: Isabel Coixet
Distributor: Greenwich Entertainment
Production Co: Zephyr Films, Samson Films, One Two Films
Rating: PG (Language|Brief Smoking|Some Thematic Elements)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 24, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 15, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.5M

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