The Unloved

2009

1 hr. 46 min.

Drama

List

95%

19 Reviews

Tomatometer

67%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Lucy is 11-years-old and lives with her father. One day, not for the first time, he beats her. The next time she returns to school, Lucy asks to see her social worker Jackie. Lucy is known to social services and has been in foster care before, but none of her foster parents have any placements available. Jackie takes her to a children's home, Crop Row, where she is left with nothing except the school uniform she is wearing.

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Audience Member

Very slow with not much of a climax. Somewhat confusing.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Steinways M

The child is more of a silent witness in this oftentimes slow drama about a foster child....not much action or suspense to hold the viewer's attention...

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/17/19

Full Review

Audience Member

Windsor's taciturn and stoic central performance is both haunting and affecting, framed by Morton's deliberate, even stately direction.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A very average movie.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Loved it!! watched it so many times.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I am too sensitive for a film like this.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

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Samantha Morton

Director

Robert Carlyle

Father

Susan Lynch

Mother

Michael Socha

Michael

Lauren Socha

Lauren

Molly Windsor

Lucy

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Philip De Semlyen

Empire Magazine

Poignant, perceptive and unrelenting, this may be bleak, like all great drama, it is ultimately uplifting as well.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 19, 2010

Full Review

Trevor Johnston

Time Out

Windsor's taciturn and stoic central performance is both haunting and affecting, framed by Morton's deliberate, even stately direction.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 19, 2010

Full Review

Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

The camera is held at kiddie height, the close-ups are all Lucy's, and the adult world is viewed with deep suspicion as a cold and unforgiving place. It's a tough watch, and justifiably uncompromising.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 19, 2010

Full Review

Joanne Laurier

World Socialist Web Site

Morton dramatizes the relationship between her central characters with an honest and complex emotionalism.

Mar 4, 2021

Full Review

Sarah Manvel

Critic's Notebook

Everything Ms. Morton has done in her career has brought her to making this film. Even if she never directs again, The Unloved will stand as an intelligent achievement.

Aug 9, 2018

Full Review

Brian Orndorf

BrianOrndorf.com

As an overall representation of horrors, neglect, and personal solace, it's frustratingly static, often preferring the cool waters of esoteric cinema to something more charged and insightful.

Rated: B-

May 30, 2011

Full Review

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Synopsis

Lucy is 11-years-old and lives with her father. One day, not for the first time, he beats her. The next time she returns to school, Lucy asks to see her social worker Jackie. Lucy is known to social services and has been in foster care before, but none of her foster parents have any placements available. Jackie takes her to a children's home, Crop Row, where she is left with nothing except the school uniform she is wearing.

Director: Samantha Morton
Executive Producer: Liza Marshall
Screenwriter: Tony Grisoni, Samantha Morton
Production Co: EM Media, Revolution Films, Film4
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 8, 2017

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