Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge (2016) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
14 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
7/10
Maria Skłodowska-Curie: Interesting, worth seeing for people interested in her.
WarsawTC5 March 2017
I found the film interesting. I generally knew about Maria Skłodowska-Curie (she was a Pole, born and raised in Warsaw). I knew nothing about her personal life in Paris, which is the focus of this film.

The film looks more at her personal life and the large challenges she faced being a woman (and mother of two) in a Man's World. Worth seeing.
16 out of 24 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Great to know who she is, but it's not that great in telling me what she did.
subxerogravity10 July 2017
So I learned something simply from going to see the movie about a female scientist who discovered element 88 and attempted to sell it to the science society as a better way to help destroy cancer.

It's the perfect movie for this age of feminism, cause the movie is about a woman struggling in a society that looks down on her cause she's not a dude, yet the men closet to her loved her mind the most and wanted to see her success be praised.

Albert Einstein is portrayed in the movie. Different from the Einstein I'm use to as he's a younger man with darker hair. I'm guessing this was at a time when he was just smart but did not achieve anything, which is semi-ironic because he's use as a means to show everyone what level of smart Marie Curie is on.

It was much needed. The film does not really talk about the science only mentions that she discovered Radium and she won two Nobel Prizes for it, but never fully goes over why she was nominated, only a few sections on how her new element can help people with cancer.

The movie mostly details the controversy that surrounded her life that almost prevented her from winning the second nomination. It's based on a true story so I can't complain on how the story goes if that's how it happen. As important the historic fact of the struggle for this chemist to be her in a room filled with white men, and how it was so much easier for her to be shamed on for her affair with a married man because she was a woman, I think it would have been just as important to see her doing the science. We see her balance family and work (The scenes with her guiding her daughter (who would follow her footsteps) were great, but it would have been cool watching her do the lab work she did to get to were she got to.

That would have been perfect in a film like this. I loved how kinetic the movie flowed. It was all the same pace and never boring (It does help that Curie has an interesting life and is an interesting person.). Although I must admit, the tempo got a little annoying trying to watch the visuals and stay focus on the subtitles.

Very good for the feminist cause of today, but next time keep in mind that Curie raised a female physicist and we want to do the same and the best way to do that is with more science.

http://cinemagardens.com
9 out of 15 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Personal life plus two Nobel prizes: Can a scientist have it all?
sfdphd9 April 2017
I just saw this film at the San Francisco Film Festival. I already knew about Madame Curie's scientific achievements so I was interested in the personal aspects that this film revealed.

The sexist aspects are relevant today. A woman tries to get recognition for her scientific achievements but is thwarted almost every step of the way. Nevertheless, she persisted....

It's a beautiful film, the cinematography is excellent. It's got an artistic feeling that I didn't expect from this period piece.
7 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
A feminist scientist
ulicknormanowen3 April 2020
Scientist Marie Curie inspired a lot of directors: Mervyn Le Roy's "Madame Curie " (1943) starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon stopped with the discovery of radium ; the MTV "une femme honorable" starring Marie-Christine Barrault in the eighties told her whole life ,including her affair ,passed over in silence by the MGM production (which in the end ,made sense ,for it happened after Pierre's death.)

"Marie curie " has a strong feminist side : it depicts Marie's struggle in a macho world ;when Albert Einstein -whom she actually met:there are famous photographs of both scientists walking and discussing in the country -tells he she's the most clever woman he has ever met ,Marie wryly answers "there's not much competition";she had to struggle to get her late husband 's chair (it's not a place that's passed down from husband to wife); her affair with Langevin gets unanimous thumbs down and meets the populace's hatred (If I were a man, my affair would be taken for granted).

Karolina Gruzka is a convincing scientist , who has "the courage of knowledge " ,at a time when a complete and utter fool could vote and a genius like her was not allowed to .

There are lessons to be learned from Mrs Curie's admirable life : she insists her work be useful to relieve the humanity's sufferings ( it was a brand new way to cure cancer) ;a great woman who gave all and who wanted to live just like a woman , that is to say ,with the right to be in love.
2 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Marie Curie, an exceptional scientist
esteban174726 December 2017
Warning: Spoilers
The balance of the film is somewhat disproportionate when the episode of the relationship of the widow Curie with her collaborator is shown. Although this moment occurred, it would have been wiser to put more emphasis on the scientific twists and troubles that Marie Curie had to deal with, often with few means, to reach the findings that made her famous and that provided very useful contribution for curing terrible diseases. Each filmmaker has his plan in the way to expose the plot of a film. Marie Noelle thought it probably interesting and even engaging the subject of the above-mentioned relationship. As a remarkable aspect of the film is the meeting of Marie with another famous scientist, Albert Einstein. The dialogues between both, although brief, were interesting. Perhaps to address the lives of people of such merit as Marie Curie, television serials are needed instead of feature film to show everything with the proper balance. Marie was an exceptional woman and also exceptional as scientist.
0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
Completely false image
tomasz_zadora7 March 2017
This movie is not about Marie-Curie and her work, it's about romance and love.

You could replace Marie Skłodowska-Curie by French Maid or Nurse, and it wouldn't change much of the story in the movie.

If you desire to see romance movie - there are better than this one, if you want to know anything about Marie Skłodowska-Curie and her story, search the web.

Not recommended 3/10.
43 out of 55 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
Tedious vehicle using Marie Curie to push a 21st. century adgenda.
RichardvonLust20 January 2018
This is sadly not a film about a great woman who dedicated her life to science and paid the ultimate price in doing so. Rather it is simply yet another tedious promotion of today's feminist agenda telling us how terrible it was to be a woman in the past and (indirectly) how much we must strive to strengthen women's rights in the future. Marie Curie is simply the canvas used to restate this message for the millionth time.

It tells us nothing about her background, her early interests, her historical meeting with Pierre Curie or even the substance of the relationship between them. And most awful of all it tells us nothing of her actual work, how it was that Radium and Polonium were discovered and how this was received at the time.

Instead the film concentrates upon a series of soft porn, soft focus and heavily romantacised encounters between her and a married man whom she partnered after Pierre's death. Curie was then 44 and fairly full figured after having two daughters. But the actress in the film is nothing like that. She has a slim lithe body with perfectly neat compact breasts that would emulate a teenager. In short the woman who partnered a man becuase of shared scientific exploration is now displayed as a sex godess worthy of our admiration on physical grounds alone.

Do youself a favour. Chuck this film in the bin and watch the 1943 version instead. It is much much more rewarding.
22 out of 31 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
Interesting but could be better
aldencliff9 December 2018
The movie painted an interesting portrait on the life of the only person in history to receive two Nobel prizes in different fields. Or at least it tried to. But it dwelt too much on her relationship with a married man which derailed the story.
4 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
This isn't a film about science. It's about a woman scientist.
Red-12514 November 2017
Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge (2016) is a Polish/French film co-written and directed by Marie Noelle

The wonderful Polish actor Karolina Gruszka stars as Marie Curie. Charles Berling portrays Pierre Curie, and Arieh Worthalter plays Paul Langevin, a married scientist with whom Marie had an affair.

If you're looking for a movie that explains Marie Curie's discoveries, and how she arrived at them, this isn't that film. If you're looking for a movie that portrays Marie Curie as a brilliant scientist, and a young widow that does, indeed, have an affair, this is that film.

This movie portrays the plight of women scientists in the early 20th Century. Male scientists simply wouldn't accept the fact that a woman could be a brilliant scientist. We know that Marie Curie was brilliant--she won two Nobel prizes. The scientists of her day must have known that she was brilliant, but it was easy to ignore this fact because she was a woman. Think of how many frustrated women lived their lives with their intellect undiscovered. Think of the great minds that were lost to science. These are not happy thoughts, but they reflect reality.

I enjoyed this movie. We had seen Karolina Gruszka in another Polish movie--The Happiness of the World. She is a brilliant actor. Directors love to photograph Gruszka getting into and out of her bath. Who can blame them? (She must be the cleanest actor in Poland.)

For whatever reason, this film has a ghastly IMDb rating of 5.9. This is one of those situations where I say, "Did they see the same film I saw?" It's not a perfect movie, but it's a very good one.

We saw the film at Rochester's excellent Little Theatre, as part of the great Rochester Polish Film Festival . It will work well on the small screen. My advice--ignore the IMDb rating and watch this movie. I think you won't be disappointed.
19 out of 28 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
What's the point? (Too much romance ruins it all)
BubblingCauldron18 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I'm disappointed. I was expecting a movie about a great scientist, but after an interesting beginning, the movie seems to follow only the relationship between Marie and a married man, with a plenty of useless nudity and pointless, boring, calligraphic scenes. Showing the human side and the fragility of a woman is absolutely rigth, but the movie seems to focus only on the romance and when Marie wins her second Nobel prize the audience wonders why. That's a pity because all her battles for equal education or equal consideration for women in the academic and scientific enviroment just fade and seems less important. That was a movie with a great potential (nice photography, nice costumes) but fails to tell the importance of a great woman of 20 century.
2 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
Worst biopic film ever
enricosebas25 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The First parte of the mobile was noce but After the Hero husband's death the film being a ugly rom-com that don't respect this science genius.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
A very inspiring tale of tenacity and courage
christopherkamyszew14 August 2017
If you expect a literal scientific bio of Marie Curie, it is not that film. However, Marie Noelle focuses on the protagonist as a woman, first of all, and then as a scientist fighting in the world of men-dominated academia. And this selection makes the film particularly interesting. Beautifully shot, with masterfully selected music, and splendid performance of Karolina Gruszka. You can watch it as a love story or more as a dedication to your love. A very inspiring tale of tenacity and courage.
11 out of 18 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
A 'Nobel' Surprise
kevzin-4856921 February 2018
Going into this film I thought it was going to be just another boring, inaccurate, biographical dated film but I was surprised to actually be curious to find out what happens next throughout the film. It was not exceptional as to it will get you to the edge of your seats but Karolina Gruszka's (who ironically is a Franco-Polish also) portrayal can really get you interested to know who was Marie Curie apart from being a Nobel Prize winner. A film that will ignite the feminist inside all of us. Worth a watch.
0 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
Better than Radioactive
sergelamarche11 February 2022
Here the woman playing Marie talks with an accent and most momentous events in her life are depicted during the duration of her most tumultuous years. I enjoyed very much all these details that makes the story comes out as real and true. Beautiful film.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed