The defence The Auteur Devotee
“Form is the argument.”
Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.
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Fahrenheit 451
Drama · Science Fiction · 1966
In the future, the government maintains control of public opinion by outlawing literature and maintaining a group of enforcers, known as “firemen,” to perform the necessary book burnings. Fireman Montag begins to question the morality of his vocation…
Movie details
Fahrenheit 451
“What if you had no right to read?”
1966 Drama · Science Fiction 1h 53m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
7.1 / 10
Community rating
In the future, the government maintains control of public opinion by outlawing literature and maintaining a group of enforcers, known as “firemen,” to perform the necessary book burnings. Fireman Montag begins to question the morality of his vocation…
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 Fahrenheit 451?
For the defence
The Auteur Devotee
“You watch the director, not the movie.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe 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.
1984
Sci-fi · 1956
In a totalitarian future society, a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.
My Zoe
Drama · 2019
Isabelle, a geneticist recovering from a toxic marriage, is raising her only daughter, Zoe, with her contentious ex-husband. Zoe means everything to her mother and so when tragedy strikes the fractured family, Isabelle travels to Russia in seeking the help of a world-renowned fertility physician who Isabelle believes can help bring back her little girl.
Testament
Drama · 1983
It's just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks — many suffer radiation poisoning — the Wetherly family tries to survive.
FX's A Christmas Carol
Drama · 2019
London, 1843. Ebenezer Scrooge, a bitter old man, despises the Christmas holiday. Over the course of Christmas Eve night he is visited by three ghosts to show him his past, present and future.
THX 1138
Sci-fi · 1971
People in the future live in a totalitarian society. A technician named THX 1138 lives a mundane life between work and taking a controlled consumption of drugs that the government uses to make puppets out of people. As THX is without drugs for the first time he has feelings for a woman and they start a secret relationship.
The Giver
Drama · 2014
In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.
Train Dreams
Drama · 2025
A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.
The Long, Hot Summer
Drama · 1958
Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.
The Glass Castle
Drama · 2017
A young girl is raised in a dysfunctional family constantly on the run from the FBI. Living in poverty, she comes of age guided by her drunkard, ingenious father who distracts her with magical stories to keep her mind off the family's dire state, and her selfish, nonconformist mother who has no intention of raising a family, along with her younger brother and sister, and her other older sister. Together, they fend for each other as they mature in an unorthodox journey that is their family life.
The Zone of Interest
Drama · 2023
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
François Truffaut
Written by
François Truffaut · Jean-Louis Richard
Julie Christie
Clarisse / Linda Montag
Oskar Werner
Guy Montag
Cyril Cusack
Captain Beatty
Anton Diffring
Fabian / Headmistress
Jeremy Spenser
Man with the Apple
Bee Duffell
Book Woman
Alex Scott
Book Person: 'The Life of Henry Brulard'
Court is in session
Put Fahrenheit 451 on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Technique in search of a pulse.”
Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.