X
- 2023
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 2023
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 2023
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 2023
- TV-MA
- Netflix
All the Light We Cannot See
Season 1 Premiere: Nov 2, 2023
36
4.8
All Seasons
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 26 Critic Reviews
36
8% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
65% Mixed
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
27% Negative
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 26 Critic Reviews
36
8% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
65% Mixed
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
27% Negative
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
It’s worth watching for Loberti’s outstanding performance and the generally impressive production value, but it’s clear that it could have been so much more.
As a storyteller, Doerr is a master at weaving all these threads and elements together while giving us more nuanced characters, but in this well-intentioned production the stitching and seams that we can see all too often.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 User Ratings
4.8
38% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
23% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
38% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 User Ratings
4.8
38% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
23% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
38% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
This miniseries is stunning both in its cast,script and production. Since I totally loved the book, I was expecting to be disappointed at least a little, but this was definitely not the cast. The story is riviting on so many levels. I think the "critics" must have been watching something else.
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Read the book. Agree that the **** characters in general were overwrought. Really enjoyed the series.
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At times it is so clichéd it could be a Second World War spoof. It is as if the makers were determined to take what some critics hailed a masterpiece and reduce it to a pat potboiler brimming with constipated dialogue.
The show could be forgiven some shonkiness and self-indulgence if the central chemistry between Marie and Werner was coherent. But the achronological telling wreaks havoc with their relationship, and the German soldier is relegated to a footnote. What’s left is a cartoonish portrait of a Nazi in pursuit of a blind girl’s diamond, which does little credit to the sheer scale of suffering endured in both our recent history and the contemporary moment.
All the Light We Cannot See is visually impressive and can feel like a movie in places, with its glossy production. But, unfortunately, the quality desperately lacks in other places such as the convincing writing of these characters and their four-episode arcs.
Nothing about this final product suggests that Levy or Knight was the right choice to bring this story to the screen. Their vision for Doerr's novel is shallow, messy, and, most unfortunately, instantly forgettable.
A ghastly failure. The glossy adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name flattens morally ambiguous characters into two-dimensional avatars of pure good and absolute evil.
With two very strong actors in the lead roles and some very impressive visuals, the movie was more engaging, compelling than the book and it provided a necessary and welcome new element to the connection between Marie and Werner.
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After 2 episodes, I am done with this show. I just finished the book, and it is one of the most beautifully written novels I have ever read. The show is not horrid or unwatchable, but after just finishing the book, it is such a let down, on so many levels. Why didn't they hire French actors? Why can't we hear French accents instead of yet another English girl and WHATEVER Mark Ruffalo thinks he is doing with that god-awful country gentleman "accent" that he is attempting... Like, why? It's France. Having the British actress say "papa" FIFTY times an episode does not make her sound French, or make me feel like I'm IN France.
But what really killed it for me was how they ruined the tone of the book. The book has this overarching feeling of cavernous dread. The dread of having no f-ing clue of what's going on in the world as a young person being swept along by a world at war and a country (Germany) gone mad.
Instead, the show gives us CARTOON Third Reich villainy. Sigh. Just utter Hollywood crap. Instead of the brilliant, awful, QUIET tension (with sudden bursts of horror or violence) of living under the Third Reich in the book, we get EEEEEVIIIIIL N***zees who scream and shout and act EEEEEVIIIIL. Nothing like the book. In fact, it's a complete subversion of the book's themes and style.
It really feels like the stereotypical "dumbed-down, Americanized/Hollywood-ized" version of the novel which is really sad to see for such an excellent book.
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A blind teenager in France (played by Ana Mia Loberti, who is visually impaired) and a German soldier (Louis Hofmann), shared inspiration from a shortwave radio show in their youth. During World War II, she broadcasts messages of hope (and military secrets) via that same radio. Meanwhile, he’s been conscripted by the **** to track her down. While this series (4 one-hour eps) looks impressive enough, the filmmaking is pretty bland. The narrative doesn’t build much momentum, because there are constant flashbacks adding backstory. Likewise, there so many disparate narrative elements that it’s hard to get involved. The actors do fine and the final scenes provide some payoff, but even then, there are no surprises. This film has all the elements of a major war drama, but they don’t come together with much emotional impact.
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Corniest show ever. Everything feels fake. It's as if the directors asked the actors to try and make the viewer cry in every scene.
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Towards the end of the 1st episode I noticed that I was rather forcing myself to finish it. In the middle of the 2nd one I decided that I cannot force myself anymore. It’s just a boring idea free footage and a good example how poorly you can dramatize even a good book story.
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Production Company:
- 21 Laps Entertainment
- Pioneer Stilking Films
Initial Release Date: Nov 2, 2023
Number of seasons: 1 Season
Rating: TV-MA
Awards
Camerimage
• 1 Nomination
