The Physician

A beautiful but at times hardly believable story. One imagines the 11th century as a really medieval time and not a place where they shoot firecrackers all the time. Sure, I understand that China had been quite progressive in this respect, and I admit that I am not a historian enough to judge how much of this story was true. However, what I can judge is the knowledge of English throughout the whole European continent, reaching all the way to the far Middle East. That was really quite off. However, when I move past all these trivialities which could make this film unlikeable for me, I have to say that considering how few movies about this time are being created, the creators of The Physician did a better job than I would’ve expected. Overall, the Germans keep surprising me with these historical dramas. Pope Joan or Perfume: The Story of a Murderer only prove that their filmography has taken a huge step forward. For almost three hours, I enjoyed an absolutely beautiful story with first-class actors. Tom Payne was absolutely great. Ben Kingsley, Stellan Skarsgård and Olivier Martinez were even absolutely divine. The atmosphere was actually pretty amazing too. What else can I say? If not for some historical inaccuracies and a few unnecessarily stretched scenes, I would have given it the full number of stars. This way it is a very decent four-star rating. And I believe that I will definitely watch such a great story again someday. (05/27/2014)

Director Stölzl probably enjoys watching American epic fantasy films and fulfilled his dream of shooting something in their spirit. I don't consider his film a serious historical drama, and I would tear it to pieces. However, as a lavishly made fairy tale, where individual shots can be used as computer wallpaper or framed on a wall, it works decently. Yes, it is shallow, designed to appeal to the widest possible audience, it is colorful, romantic, and suspenseful, but also full of the most cliché and predictable elements. I don't have a big problem with the film, but it won't get an overall impression from me of more than 55%. (01/05/2016)

Good movie, which may not impress so much with its storytelling, although there are interesting moments, but with what is happening beneath the surface and gradually comes to the surface. The battle between science and religion is perhaps more interesting than the life of the main protagonist, although he occasionally dominates. Magnificent, emotional, and human, yet it didn't completely take my breath away. (04/29/2015)