Pleasantville

In the better case, every epoch carries with it the belief that it is more highly developed and advanced than those that came before it. Today, nearly a quarter century later, it can thus be instructively entertaining to watch Pleasantville, in which the supposedly free and progressive lens of the 1990s is used to view the fictional ideal of 1950s America, or rather a fictional version in the form of a stylised sitcom from the period. In its individual moments, Pleasantville still remains tremendously fascinating and entertaining, but also breathtaking and touching, as a proper melodrama should be. Despite that, however, the meta-illusion of how a plain girl and a proper nerd bring emancipation and progress to an absurdly conservative series is disrupted by nagging thoughts regarding the degree of naïveté and intrinsic limitations of the nineties perspective. On the other hand, it places a mirror in front of our own supposed enlightenment, which in turn will seem ridiculously half-baked to future generations. Nevertheless, Pleasantville has lost none of its pioneering nature at the technical level. It is part of an unfortunately small group of projects (such as Forrest Gump) in which computer tricks were not a crutch or a cheap attraction, but a creative tool for creating fascinating functional illusions. (27/12/2022)

I saw Pleasantville during its premiere in the cinema and its visual side fascinated me, as well as the excellent screenplay, which, together with Gary Ross' directing skills, created an amazing retro atmosphere. It is a clever, gentle comedy about the good old times and how problematic it is to return to them and idealize them. From today's perspective, it features a stellar cast, but back then, Maguire and Witherspoon weren't yet stars, they were still working on it, and this piece served as a nice stepping stone towards further goals for them. It was a joy to watch their pleasant, understated acting. Overall impression 90%. (05/01/2008)

Friendship, art, freedom, sex, and other bohemian desires of the children of the revolution wrapped in naive thinking and light racism of the American 1950s. Tobey Maguire is a perfect guide to the black and white world with his sincerity. Everything simply worked out for Gary Ross back then, and I am amazed at how quickly I started to devour his story from his hand after a few minutes, without the story rushing forward at a dizzying speed. Sometimes all it takes is to create an atmosphere and let it have its full impact. (22/11/2007)

This film has a fine cast, an interesting premise, an even more interesting execution, and a script that somewhat wrestles with logic. Well, all those minor flaws added up and made me subtract one star, but I won't nitpick any further. When I first saw this years ago, I was convinced it was a critique of racial segregation and racism itself. But the world has moved on, and I feel like this film has even greater significance now. / Lesson learned: You want to fit in? Just bleat and stick with the herd. (21/10/2022)

It’s hard to describe the joy when, after a long time, you come across a truly original film – both in the contents and the format. Pleasantville was a very pleasant surprise. There’s humour, there’s tension, there’s almost everything, including a certain allegory about the birth of an undemocratic regime. It’s very good :) (23/06/2011)