Good (film)
| Good | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Vicente Amorim |
| Written by | C.P. Taylor John Wrathall |
| Produced by | Miriam Segal |
| Starring | Viggo Mortensen Jason Isaacs Jodie Whittaker |
| Cinematography | Andrew Dunn |
| Edited by | John Wilson |
| Music by | Simon Lacey |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Lionsgate (United Kingdom) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 96 minutes |
| Countries | United Kingdom Germany Hungary |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $16 million[1] |
| Box office | $1.5 million |
Good is a 2008 drama film based on the stage play of the same name by C. P. Taylor. It stars Viggo Mortensen, Jason Isaacs, and Jodie Whittaker, and was directed by Vicente Amorim. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 8 September 2008.
Cast
- Viggo Mortensen as John Halder
- Jason Isaacs as Maurice Israel Glückstein
- Jodie Whittaker as Anne Hartman (later Halder)
- Steven Mackintosh as Freddie
- Mark Strong as Philipp Bouhler
- Gemma Jones as Halder's Mother
- Anastasia Hille as Helen Halder
- Ruth Gemmell as Elisabeth
- Ralph Riach as Brunau
- Steven Elder as Adolf Eichmann
- Kevin Doyle as Commandant
- David de Keyser as Mandelstam
- Guy Henry as Doctor
- Adrian Schiller as Goebbels
- Rick Warden as Brownshirt
- Charlie Condou as Bekemeier
- Kelly Wenham as Pretty Secretary
- Anna Marie Cseh as Beautiful Woman
Production
Producer Miriam Segal had wanted to turn C. P. Taylor's play into a film ever since she saw it in 1981. Good premiered in London in September 1981, with Alan Howard as John Halder, and transferred to Broadway in 1982. "I was simply overwhelmed by the play, and knew immediately I would do whatever was necessary to produce the film adaptation", Segal has stated.
In 2003, 22 years after the play's premiere, she finally secured the rights. Her former classmate, Jason Isaacs, signed on to be one of the film’s executive producers, and Viggo Mortensen, who had been very impressed by the play when visiting London as a young actor in 1981, agreed to play the lead. The film was shot entirely on location in Budapest in 2007.
Critical reception
The film was poorly received by critics, and its release was limited.[2] On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 33% rating based on 72 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Though ambitious, Good stumbles in the transition from stage to screen, and Mortensen's performance isn't enough to cover its flaws".[3] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 40 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[4] Historian Frank McDonough praised the film, recommending it on the historical podcast 'We Have Ways of Making You Talk'.[5]
See also
- Martin Heidegger - a Professor of Philosophy in Freiburg promoted to Rector under the Nazis
- Hannah Arendt - a student and lover of Martin Heidegger
- Edith Stein - a victim of the Holocaust who was murdered at Auschwitz, fellow protégée with Heidegger of the phenomenologist Edmund Husserl
References
- ^ "Good (2008) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
- ^ Tim Robey (16 April 2009). "Good: Review". Telegraph. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
- ^ "Good (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
- ^ "Good". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc.
- ^ "Ep 288: The Hitler Years". We Have Ways of Making You Talk. 19 March 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
External links
- 2008 films
- 2000s political drama films
- British political drama films
- German drama films
- Hungarian drama films
- English-language German films
- English-language Hungarian films
- Films shot in Budapest
- Films set in the 1930s
- Films set in Germany
- Films about Nazi Germany
- Films shot in Hungary
- 2008 drama films
- 2000s English-language films
- 2000s British films
- 2000s German films