The Unloved

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The Unloved

2009

1h 46m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

95%

Tomatometer

20 Reviews

67%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Lucy is 11-years-old and lives with her father. One day, not for the first time, he beats her. The next time she returns to school, Lucy asks to see her social worker Jackie. Lucy is known to social services and has been in foster care before, but none of her foster parents have any placements available. Jackie takes her to a children's home, Crop Row, where she is left with nothing except the school uniform she is wearing.

Philip De Semlyen

Empire Magazine

Feb 19, 2010

4/5

Poignant, perceptive and unrelenting, this may be bleak, like all great drama, it is ultimately uplifting as well.

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Trevor Johnston

Time Out

Feb 19, 2010

4/5

Windsor's taciturn and stoic central performance is both haunting and affecting, framed by Morton's deliberate, even stately direction.

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Kevin Maher

The Times (UK)

Feb 19, 2010

4/5

The camera is held at kiddie height, the close-ups are all Lucy's, and the adult world is viewed with deep suspicion as a cold and unforgiving place. It's a tough watch, and justifiably uncompromising.

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Michael Leader

Den of Geek

May 7, 2024

3/5

While The Unloved succeeds in creating a uniquely sparse, melancholy atmosphere, it is a success that requires the sacrifice of the kind of necessary emotional connection that such social realist dramas need to be truly moving.

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Joanne Laurier

World Socialist Web Site

Mar 4, 2021

Morton dramatizes the relationship between her central characters with an honest and complex emotionalism.

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Sarah Manvel

Critic's Notebook

Aug 9, 2018

Everything Ms. Morton has done in her career has brought her to making this film. Even if she never directs again, The Unloved will stand as an intelligent achievement.

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May 26, 2020

Very slow with not much of a climax. Somewhat confusing.

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Nov 5, 2017

Windsor's taciturn and stoic central performance is both haunting and affecting, framed by Morton's deliberate, even stately direction.

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Jul 19, 2015

A very average movie.

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Apr 13, 2014

Loved it!! watched it so many times.

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Aug 29, 2013

I am too sensitive for a film like this.

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Aug 3, 2013

I thought this was a decent film. Interesting to see how it is in group homes. The little girl that played Lucy was brilliant. I liked the chemistry between Lucy and her roomate at the home. Nice little movie.

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Samantha Morton

Director

Robert Carlyle

Father

Susan Lynch

Mother

Michael Socha

Michael

Lauren Socha

Lauren

Molly Windsor

Lucy

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Synopsis

Lucy is 11-years-old and lives with her father. One day, not for the first time, he beats her. The next time she returns to school, Lucy asks to see her social worker Jackie. Lucy is known to social services and has been in foster care before, but none of her foster parents have any placements available. Jackie takes her to a children's home, Crop Row, where she is left with nothing except the school uniform she is wearing.

Director: Samantha Morton
Producer: Andrew Eaton, Kate Ogborn
Screenwriter: Tony Grisoni, Samantha Morton
Production Co: Revolution Films, Film4, EM Media
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 8, 2017
Runtime: 1h 46m

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