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I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

Drama · 1977

A disturbed and institutionalized 16-year-old girl struggles between fantasy and reality.

Movie details

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

“When she tried to kill herself, it was just the beginning.”

1977 Drama 1h 36m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

5.9 / 10

Community rating

A disturbed and institutionalized 16-year-old girl struggles between fantasy and reality.

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 I Never Promised You a Rose Garden?

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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Welcome to the Rileys

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Years after their teenage daughter’s death, Lois and Doug Riley, an upstanding Indiana couple, are frozen by estranging grief. Doug escapes to New Orleans on a business trip. Compelled by urgencies he doesn’t understand, he insinuates himself into the life of an underage hooker, becoming her platonic guardian.

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Thirteen

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Anthony Page

Written by

Gavin Lambert · Lewis John Carlino

Kathleen Quinlan

Kathleen Quinlan

Deborah Blake

Bibi Andersson

Bibi Andersson

Dr. Fried

Ben Piazza

Ben Piazza

Jay Blake

Lorraine Gary

Lorraine Gary

Ester Blake

Martine Bartlett

Martine Bartlett

Secret Wife

M

Margo Ann Berdeshevsky

Drawing Patient

D

Darlene Craviotto

Carla

Court is in session

Put I Never Promised You a Rose Garden 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.