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Byzantium

Byzantium

Drama · Fantasy · Thriller · 2013

Residents of a coastal town learn, with deadly consequences, the secret shared by the two mysterious women who have sought refuge at a local boarding house, the Byzantium.

Movie details

Byzantium

“Irresistible. Immoral. Immortal.”

2013 Drama · Fantasy · Thriller 1h 58m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.5 / 10

47.8K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

65 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

66 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.3 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Residents of a coastal town learn, with deadly consequences, the secret shared by the two mysterious women who have sought refuge at a local boarding house, the Byzantium.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Byzantium?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Donnie Darko

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Where it lives

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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Neil Jordan

Written by

Moira Buffini

Gemma Arterton

Gemma Arterton

Clara Webb

Saoirse Ronan

Saoirse Ronan

Eleanor Webb

Sam Riley

Sam Riley

Darvell

Jonny Lee Miller

Jonny Lee Miller

Ruthven

Caleb Landry Jones

Caleb Landry Jones

Frank

Daniel Mays

Daniel Mays

Noel

Kate Ashfield

Kate Ashfield

Gabi

Court is in session

Put Byzantium on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.