The Roads Not Taken


The Roads Not Taken is a British-American drama film written and directed by Sally Potter. It stars Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning, Salma Hayek and Laura Linney.
It had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 26, 2020. It was released on March 13, 2020, by Bleecker Street.

Premise

A day in the life of Leo, who lives in New York City and is suffering from dementia. His daughter, Molly, comes to see him to take him to the dentist and the optometrist. While Molly struggles to help Leo with these appointments, Leo is reliving parallel versions of his life in his mind, including a life with his ex-wife Dolores in Mexico, and a time spent in Greece.

Cast

In December 2018, it was announced Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning, Salma Hayek, Laura Linney and Chris Rock had joined the cast of the film, with Sally Potter directing and writing from a screenplay she wrote. Christopher Sheppard will produce under his Adventure Pictures banner, while BBC Films, HanWay Films, British Film Institute, Ingenious Media, Chimney Pot, Sverige AB, Adventure Pictures and Film i Väst will produce. Bleecker Street will distribute. Production began that same month. During post-production on the film, Rock's scenes were cut.
The film is dedicated to Nic Potter, Sally's brother, who suffered from Pick's Disease, a type of dementia.

Release

In September 2019, it was announced Focus Features had acquired international distribution rights. It had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 26, 2020. It was released in the United States on March 13, 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bleecker Street partnered with distributors to virtually stream the film on participating theater websites splitting the revenue beginning April 10, 2020.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 39% based on 33 reviews, with an average rating of 4.69/10. The site’s critical consensus reads: “The Roads Not Taken is the well-acted result of an undeniably singular vision -- one which is ultimately frustratingly, fatally inert.“ On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 39 out of 100, based on 15 critic reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".