49 Up Critic Reviews

No matter their wealth or social status, these people share disappointments and elations and a sense that life, in the end, may be what life is about.Read the full review

I am not British, was born 14 years before the subjects, and yet by now identify intensely with them, because some kinds of human experience -- teenage, work, marriage, illness are universal. You could make this series in any society.Read the full review

49 Up is a precious document, and must viewing.Read the full review

Michael Apted's landmark films documenting the lives of a disparate group of Brits in seven-year intervals have always been fascinating from a sociological perspective. But the latest installment proves that they are undeniably brilliant cinematically as well.Read the full review

A solid starting point for those unfamiliar with Apted's greatest work, and a must-see for those who have been down this road before.Read the full review

While all the "Up" films hold a fascination akin to a Christmas letter from an almost-forgotten friend, 42 Up didn't show much progress from "35 Up." Even fans of the series had to wonder whether the faces of England were going to remain permanently frozen.Read the full review

Suzy's marriage, Nick's divorce, Paul's work history: none of it is my or anyone else's business. But these things -- these people -- have become, through Mr. Apted's films, a vital part of modern life, which seems to grow richer every seven years, when the new "Up" movie comes out.Read the full review

49 Up is more than a deeply satisfying movie; it's a reminder of the wonder contained in ordinary lives.Read the full review

Taken as a whole, these films constitute one of the greatest uses of cinema a documentary filmmaker has ever devised. Like the other films in the series, 49 Up is alternately touching and mundane, part soap opera, part reality show and part anthropological study.Read the full review