Paradise Road

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Paradise Road

R,

1997,

1h 55m,

Drama

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Watchlist

52%

21 Reviews

Tomatometer

78%

2,500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

52%

Tomatometer

21 Reviews

78%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

A group of foreign women -- including an educated British musician (Glenn Close), an Australian nurse (Cate Blanchett) and an American socialite (Julianna Margulies) -- leave Singapore during World War II. When their boat is attacked, they wash up in Japanese-occupied Sumatra and end up in a POW camp. Conditions there are grim, with prisoners brutally punished for minor violations. But the captives soon decide to form a singing group that just may lift these very different women out of misery.

Emanuel Levy

Variety

Jun 21, 2007

C

A large cast of gifted actress, including Glenn Close and Frances McDormand, is largely wasted in Beresford's honroable but failed effort to pay tribute to a group of disparate women held captive by the Japanese in WWII.

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Susan Wloszczyna

USA Today

Jan 1, 2000

1.5/4

Even with its grueling pageant of torture and abuse at the hands of monstrously inhuman Japanese officers, Road never reaches the heart.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Jan 1, 2000

2/4

The movie is an anecdote, not a story.

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Mike Davies

Birmingham Post

Sep 24, 2025

The ensemble cast pulls out all the stops to ensure the deaths do shock and the heart is well and truly wrung.

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Mal Vincent

The Virginian-Pilot

Mar 29, 2022

2.5/4

Paradise Road is a unique look back in both style and content, but its subject matter deserved more engrossing treatment.

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Murtada Elfadl

Sundays with Cate

May 1, 2020

C

Never lifts off to anywhere that's profound or moving or interesting

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Rey W

Dec 14, 2018

This movie was really sad. Wow so many good actresses in it. Cate Blanchett and the lady from Shirley Valentine in it too. Worth watching.

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Bruce Beresford

Director

Glenn Close

Adrienne Pargiter

Pauline Collins

Daisy 'Margaret' Drummond

Cate Blanchett

Susan Macarthy

Frances McDormand

Dr. Verstak

Julianna Margulies

Topsy Merritt

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Synopsis

A group of foreign women -- including an educated British musician (Glenn Close), an Australian nurse (Cate Blanchett) and an American socialite (Julianna Margulies) -- leave Singapore during World War II. When their boat is attacked, they wash up in Japanese-occupied Sumatra and end up in a POW camp. Conditions there are grim, with prisoners brutally punished for minor violations. But the captives soon decide to form a singing group that just may lift these very different women out of misery.

Director: Bruce Beresford
Producer: Greg Coote, Sue Milliken
Screenwriter: David Giles, Martin Meader, Bruce Beresford, Betty Jeffrey
Distributor: Fox, 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Village Roadshow Entertainment
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 11, 1997, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.9M
Runtime: 1h 55m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Digital

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