Critics Reviews
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| May 08, 2007The Baltimore Sun
A shot toward the end shows that red Kelly purse floating above Paris' skyline, and you don't believe it for a second - not because the special effects are faulty but because this weak movie never could summon such a strong breeze.
As usual, the Merchant-Ivory team is intent on moving its film along agreeably, so when the plot calls for a late-movie spasm of violence, they appear clueless as to how to portray it.
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| Aug 07, 2003Hartford Courant
A shot toward the end shows that red Kelly purse floating above Paris' skyline, and you don't believe it for a second - not because the special effects are faulty but because this weak movie never could summon such a strong breeze.
As usual, the Merchant-Ivory team is intent on moving its film along agreeably, so when the plot calls for a late-movie spasm of violence, they appear clueless as to how to portray it.
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| Apr 06, 1996Los Angeles Times
Given the prodigious amount of research involved, the film's portrait of Jefferson as grave, formal and unbending, both serious and seriously repressed, is presumably accurate.
But the successful Merchant Ivory ventures have done more than look attractive, they've forged emotional connections with the audience, something "Jefferson in Paris" is unable to do.
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| Apr 07, 1995Washington Post
As a historical spectacle, James Ivory's "Jefferson in Paris" is nearly perfect in every detail.
The callous decadence of the ruling class, the intellectual buzzing of the salons and the atmosphere of impending revolt in the streetsthese details about life in Paris during the 1780s are all conveyed with exceptional skill.
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| Apr 07, 1995James Berardinelli's Reviews
The whole film is rather superficial.....It tells its story reasonably well, but doesn't do much more.....Nolte never successfully forges a bond between his character and the audience.....Inexplicably, however, Nolte is actually rather flat..... ... Full Review
| Apr 07, 1995San Francisco Chronicle
Directed by James Ivory, who teams again with producer Ismail Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, ``Jefferson in Paris'' is dull, sluggish and unfocused.
What's more, her fruity, annoying accent seems to stretch all over the planet and her scenes with Nolte fall flat.
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Rolling Stone
the young slave some scholars believe carried on a secret affair with Jefferson and bore him seven children
The timid approach robs the film of passion and point.
Thandie Newton gives the film's liveliest performance as Sally Hemings
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Chicago Sun-Times
James Hemings' confrontations with Jefferson and Sally are the best-written scenes in the film; the character seems willing to confront questions that the movie otherwise allows to slip quietly past.
The implication is that the paternalistic Jefferson thinks they'll be better off staying with him, "the best master in Virginia," according to his daughter.
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CultureCartel.com
Hemmings, a historically interesting character for sure, is treated as little more than a racist caricaturea caricature that Jefferson not only would have perceived as inferior in his time, but one who the film fails to explain why Jefferson would have any romantic interest in.
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