Temple Grandin

The girl who played with cows (and kicked the ones that angered her). She could choose what to use her gift (and curse) for. She chose livestock, the mute faces that don’t make her nervous and that she understands much better than the human beings around her. The strange subject is believable due not only to the fact that it is based on actual events, but also to the effort of the filmmakers and Claire Denis to understand Temple Grandin’s world (Denis brilliantly portrays her persistent immaturity). In order for us to get a better idea of her experience, we are shown people and things through her eyes. The ideas and emotions that Temple has difficulty expressing are rendered in images. Orbis pictus. One might seek a subject more suitable for a film. The protagonist’s difficult journey to achieving her life’s dream is devoid of impassioned moments and the film is hindered by its literalness in explaining what autism involves. Besides the protagonists diagnosis, the setting of the American Southwest of the 1960s, dominated exclusively by men, is factored in, and we can thus be even more fascinated by the determination of one petite girl, or rather woman. 75% (20.09.2012)

It takes a while before you get used to Temple. After all, she is autistic and it is not that easy to respect what bothers her, what she does not like and how she reacts to all of that. For the first twenty minutes I found her rather annoying, but that was until I got used to her behavior. For the rest of the movie, I began to applaud her when I realized what she had been able to do with her life, despite her autism. Hats off to her and hats off to the actress Claire Danes, who portrayed her perfectly. I will admit that at first I had no idea it was her. I realized it only when I looked her up in the discussion on this site. She is able to play a star in the Stardust, the deranged journalist in the amazing series Homeland and then I have the honor of watching her play an autistic person in this movie. I’m really bowing down before her. With this movie she gained my enormous respect, as well as Temple Grandin for the life she led and how she was able to stay on top of things the way not many people can. The final scene was flawless and it was an excellent cherry on top of her life. (26.09.2013)

Claire Danes is great at portraying all kinds of mentally disturbed women. The writing worked very well, so the whole film had an extremely positive effect on me. What I personally consider a plus is the fact that the title character wasn’t fighting for the extermination of us carnivores, but was promoting an idea with which I can fully identify. 4*+ (10.04.2021)