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The Broken Circle Breakdown

Play trailer Poster for The Broken Circle Breakdown 2013 1h 52m Drama Music Romance Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
83% Tomatometer 103 Reviews 85% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
The loss of their young daughter threatens to destroy the love and faith of two married musicians (Veerle Baetens, Johan Heldenbergh).
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The Broken Circle Breakdown

The Broken Circle Breakdown

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Critics Consensus

The Broken Circle Breakdown's reach occasionally exceeds its grasp, but overall, it's an intoxicating, finely wrought romance -- and one with a terrific soundtrack to boot.

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Critics Reviews

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Gilda Williams Sight & Sound 06/14/2016
Constantly you worry that the movie will collapse under the strain of more raw emotions but it rarely falters and never lapses into the predictable or the sentimental. Go to Full Review
David Stratton The Australian 05/19/2014
3/5
It's a film about a couple whose tumultuous relationship is severely challenged, and the performances are excellent. Go to Full Review
Paul Byrnes Sydney Morning Herald 05/19/2014
4.5/5
Where the Coen brothers gently mocked th[e] music in O Brother Where art Thou?, this plucky little Belgian film reconnects that music to the sorrows that produced it. Just brilliant. Go to Full Review
Leo Brady AMovieGuy.com 01/31/2021
3/4
The Broken Circle Breakdown never pulls punches when it comes to telling the complex realities of life that exist in the films story. Go to Full Review
Leigh Paatsch Herald Sun (Australia) 05/08/2020
3.5/5
Unrelentingly bleak, but grittily beautiful stuff. Wonderful live music sequences sweeten an otherwise uncompromising deal. Go to Full Review
Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com 08/29/2019
The often emotional and heartbreaking lyrics of several numbers are a testament to the film's ability to transcend tastes and styles. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Dani G Mar 10 Sad, tough, harsh film... Why do they make movies like these? Man! See more Julien T 04/11/2024 This film haunted me from the day I first watched it... And the soundtrack which I keep coming back to doesn't help me forget it! Deeply moving, bittersweet, funny, charming... it's a rollercoaster of emotions that will not leave you unmoved. See more JJJJJJ J 12/10/2023 I don't know how to put this. So i guess I'll just start with the basic. It was perfectly shot. Mise-en-scene great. Really fantastic. I did have questions about the plot structure, and if being told in chronological order could have made this film better, but that is a bit of pandoras box, the saying goes we never will know the counterfactual... Moving the 'how it was told' aside and focusing on the story at hand, i felt for the most part it was okay and engaging enough, yet for some reason through the vast majority of the film I never felt any deep emotion about what was happening. Only in the final scene did something really seem to click with me. That did work. The final 10 minutes hit on something hard about what love is and what it means to love. I just do not know if the 110 minute run time justifies this. I think this film is worth the watch there is something there and that something is special I just have this want for it to have been something more. See more isla s 09/01/2022 This is a sad, sobering watch about the highs and lows of a couple of country musicians. Its a dutch film, so its not set in the US. Its quite an emotional watch at times. I enjoyed the scenes featuring their live performances. The wife Elise is shown to be the perhaps more open, honest and emotional out of the two of them but Didier, the husband, also has his own sadnesses and hopes and so on. Its a somewhat emotionally raw film. The depiction of anger and despair is very well put across and it covers the themes of grief and loss quite well, handling such a delicate subject suitably. Its a somewhat thought provoking film and one I would recommend. See more 03/07/2021 Worthless. Half a star for the music. See more filippo v 07/29/2020 Il film offre un'esperienza talmente intensa e deprimente che risulta indimenticabile e ricca di emozione. La trama tragica e degradante viene accompagnata da una colonna sonora fantastica, sempre accesa ed emotivamente carica, creando un contrasto tra musica ed immagini che lascia il segno nello spettatore. Sporadiche incertezze tecniche nelle scene chiave non intaccano il quadro generale, un film ricco e corposo che ci lascia preziosi insegnamenti morali. See more Read all reviews
The Broken Circle Breakdown

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Movie Info

Synopsis The loss of their young daughter threatens to destroy the love and faith of two married musicians (Veerle Baetens, Johan Heldenbergh).
Director
Felix van Groeningen
Producer
Arnold Heslenfeld, Dirk Impens, Frans van Gestel, Laurette Schillings
Screenwriter
Felix van Groeningen, Carl Joos
Distributor
Tribeca Film
Production Co
Menuet Producties, Topkapi Films
Genre
Drama, Music, Romance
Original Language
Dutch
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 1, 2013, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 10, 2014
Runtime
1h 52m
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