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Parents' Guide to

Small World

By Alistair Lawrence, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 12+

French Alzheimer's drama has smoking and consumerism.

Movie NR 2014 93 minutes
Small World Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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Is It Any Good?

Our review:
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This limp French family drama has good intentions, but fails to make the most of its talented cast. Small World is a slow-paced examination of how an outsider's worsening dementia slowly reveals some long-buried secrets. But one of the film's biggest problems is that it's never entirely clear how much Depardieu's Konrad has regressed to a child-like state because of his condition or how much of his nature has always been both simple and taken advantage of by his wealthy employers. This results in leaving far more questions than answers.

Alexandra Maria Lara's Simone helps peel back some of the layers. But the finale is fairly tame and her would-be in-laws are all so entitled and underdeveloped that it's difficult to invest in their lives, or care what happens to them. Small World can be commended for taking a sensitive approach to the distress declining health causes both its sufferers and those closest to them. But it has none of the mastery that The Father and other movies have shown in dealing with the same subject matter.

Movie Details

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