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Anna and the King

Anna and the King

Drama · Romance · History · 1999

The story of the romance between the King of Siam (now Thailand) and the widowed British school teacher Anna Leonowens during the 1860s. Anna teaches the children and becomes romanced by the King. She convinces him that a man can be loved by just one woman.

Movie details

Anna and the King

1999 Drama · Romance · History 2h 28m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.8 / 10

Community rating

The story of the romance between the King of Siam (now Thailand) and the widowed British school teacher Anna Leonowens during the 1860s. Anna teaches the children and becomes romanced by the King. She convinces him that a man can be loved by just one woman.

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 Anna and the King?

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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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Andy Tennant

Written by

Steve Meerson · Peter Krikes

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster

Anna

Chow Yun-Fat

Chow Yun-Fat

King Mongkut

Bai Ling

Bai Ling

Tuptim

Tom Felton

Tom Felton

Louis

S

Syed Alwi

The Kralahome

Randall Duk Kim

Randall Duk Kim

General Alak

L

Lim Kay Siu

Prince Chowfa

Court is in session

Put Anna and the King on trial.

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

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

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

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

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