SummaryDavid (Tim Roth) is an in-home nurse who works with terminally ill patients. Efficient and dedicated to his profession, David develops strong, even intimate, relationships with each person he cares for. But outside of his work, David is ineffectual, awkward, and reserved – effects of his chronic depression – and he needs each patient as much as t... Read More
Directed By:Michel Franco
Written By:Michel Franco
Chronic
Metascore
Generally Favorable
69
User score
Generally Favorable
6.8
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
69
65% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
35% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Sep 22, 2016
90
Chronic ends with a sudden, terrible slap in the face that is a final blow to your equilibrium. It is left up to the viewer to decide whether it is a cheap stunt or an ultimate moment of truth. I vote for the latter.
May 24, 2015
80
Tim Roth gives a meticulously withdrawn performance that speaks volumes, and although filmmaker Michel Franco can be too fussy in his starkly somber design, Chronic is nonetheless a captivating work.
Sep 23, 2016
75
Tim Roth gives a career-high performance in this meticulous, disturbing film written and directed by Michel Franco.
May 24, 2015
70
Chronic may be a demanding movie to watch, but it’s also one with enormous potential for audiences to personalize, expanding in the hours and days that follow.
Sep 22, 2016
60
Chronic forces viewers to look closely at things they might rather ignore, and intentionally holds its emotions at a distance.
Sep 21, 2016
58
When Chronic premiered at Cannes in 2015 (where it unexpectedly won Best Screenplay), one tweet waggishly retitled it Caring Is Creepy, and it really does play, for better and worse, like a lengthy exploration of that Shins song’s thesis.
Sep 22, 2016
40
At 93 minutes, Chronic felt unbearable to sit through, at once intimate and difficult, boring and acute. Its tone aspires to the numbness of a limb pinned for too long under a heavy weight.
User score
Generally Favorable
6.8
57% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
43% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Sep 15, 2019
9
Tim Roth is stimulating as a introvert in-home nurse who aids terminal-ill patients. With no music score or dull sentimentalities, and with a sharp, sudden final act, it's a analysis of the sense of life of terminal patients.
Oct 10, 2016
4
The majority of this film shows an in-home nurse (Tim Roth) helping his terminally-ill patients: washing them, administering their medication, offering support. Director Michel Franco (no relationship) sets his camera in static wide shots and lets the action (or lack thereof) play out in real time…often for minutes with no cutting. This paints a touching, sometimes heartbreaking picture of life near its end, but with bleak mundanity and unvarnished objectivity. There's a bit of backstory, but it's never fully explained and the abrupt ending (which I guessed) is an out-of-the-blue shocker with no justification. Besides the harrowing portrayals of the effects of extreme illness, this film offers little in the way of character development or bearable pacing.
Production Company:
- Live Free or Die Films
- Lucia Films
- Stromboli Films
- Televisa Cine
- Trebol Stone
- Vamonos Films
- Videocine
- Wild Bunch
Release Date:Sep 23, 2016
Duration:1 h 33 m
Rating:R
Website:
Awards
Cannes Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Film Independent Spirit Awards
• 2 Nominations
Cartagena Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
