---
title: "Agora"
year: 2009
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/agora"
fi1m_id: "agora"
imdb_id: "tt1186830"
tmdb_id: 26428
wikidata_id: "Q395411"
fi1m_score: 66
critics_score: 64
critics_reviews: 13
published: "2026-09-22T02:49:33.835030+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-22T02:49:34.384151+00:00"
region: "PL"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Agora (2009)

Directed by Alejandro Amenábar · 2h 07m · PISF 16 · Adventure, Drama, History

## Identity

Agora

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/agora
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** agora
- **IMDb ID:** tt1186830
- **TMDB ID:** 26428
- **Wikidata ID:** Q395411
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1186830/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/26428, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q395411

**Fi1m score: 66** · Critics 64 from 13 reviews

*In a sentence:* The camera keeps retreating to orbit, as if embarrassed by what the people are doing downstairs

> Alejandro Amenábar’s drama of reason against faith in fourth-century Alexandria is lavishly built and seriously meant, and Rachel Weisz holds it together. It is also a film that keeps telling us what it thinks, when it could have shown us and trusted us.

## Synopsis

Alexandria, Egypt, 391 AD. Hypatia (Rachel Weisz), daughter of Theon (Michael Lonsdale), who runs the city’s Library, teaches philosophy and astronomy to the sons of the elite and wants to work out why the planets wander across the sky. Her student Orestes (Oscar Isaac) is in love with her and says so in front of the school. Her slave Davus (Max Minghella) is in love with her and says nothing. Outside, the city is splitting. Christians led by Bishop Theophilus (Manuel Cauchi) mock the old gods in the agora, and the monk Ammonius (Ashraf Barhom) feeds the poor and offers Davus a faith Hypatia’s household never will. When the pagans strike back, the scholars are besieged inside the Library, and the emperor is asked who owns it.

## Review

Alejandro Amenábar, who made [*The Others*](https://film.one/film/the-others) (2001) and *The Sea Inside* (2004), goes to Alexandria in 391 AD for a film about a woman who wants to know how the heavens move while the city around her decides how everyone is going to pray. He wrote it with Mateo Gil, and they have made something rarer than it sounds: a historical film in which the most urgent thing anyone does is ask a question. It is handsome, it is serious, and it is far too fond of the sermon. It runs 127 minutes and carries a 12.

Rachel Weisz plays Hypatia as a teacher before anything else. She puts a problem to a room of young men and waits, unbothered, while they fail to answer it. When Orestes declares his love in front of the whole school she replies with a gift he did not want, and Weisz plays it as a fact about her body and her work rather than as cruelty. The film is best in these lessons, in the lamplit hall with the models of the spheres turning, because there we can see what she is protecting and why she would rather protect it than be loved.

Guy Hendrix Dyas builds the Serapeum and the agora out of hot plaster, dust and shadow, and the place feels lived in rather than dressed. Xavi Giménez shoots the streets in bleached white daylight and the Library in a dimness the lamps barely reach, so knowledge is always the darker room. Gabriella Pescucci puts the philosophers in pale linen and the Christian monks in black, which means we can read a crowd from across the square before anyone speaks. Dario Marianelli gives it choir and strings that swell at the vistas, and Nacho Ruiz Capillas cuts the riots fast and the lessons slow, which is the right way round.

The trouble is the device Amenábar leans on hardest. Again and again the camera lifts from the crowd, past the rooftops, up through the clouds until the earth is a marble and the mob is a scatter of insects. The first time it is a fine idea, and it is what the film is about: the planets do not care. By the third time we felt we were being taken by the ear to the window and told to look. The supporting cast get the same treatment. Ashraf Barhom’s Ammonius glowers and recruits; Richard Durden’s Olympius blusters; Sami Samir’s Cyril arrives in the second half to be the problem. They are positions with beards.

That leaves the two men who love her. Oscar Isaac’s Orestes, who grows from a show-off pupil into a politician trying to keep a city from tearing itself in half, is the most interesting person in the film and gets the least time. Max Minghella’s Davus is asked to stand in doorways looking at Weisz and then to go and join the monks, and there is not much a face can do with that. Michael Lonsdale gives Theon a tired grace. The accents wander from Paris to the Home Counties by way of Haifa, and nobody has decided whether that matters.

Here is what got to us. When the mob finally breaks into the Library, Ruiz Capillas cuts it to the rhythm of the men doing the damage rather than the scholars watching, so the scrolls come off the shelves and hit the floor in a brisk, ordinary way, like furniture being cleared. We were angrier than we expected to be, and it was the ordinariness that did it. Then the camera went up to orbit, and the anger cooled into being told about it.

The second half jumps forward some years and takes a turn we will not describe, though anyone who knows the name Hypatia knows roughly where it goes. Against the usual sword-and-sandal fare this is a clear step up, because it is about something and the something is worth arguing over. Against Amenábar’s own work it is a step down. *The Others* trusted silence and a look; this one keeps clearing its throat.

See it for Weisz, for the buildings and for the lessons, and be patient with the sermons. It is a film in which the most exciting thing anyone does is draw a circle on the ground, and we mean that as a recommendation.

*Fi1m score 66, published 22 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics lean cautiously positive. The reviews agree that this is an unusual historical epic, more interested in ideas than in battles, and nearly all of them read it as a parable about religious fundamentalism with a plain modern application. Rachel Weisz’s Hypatia is praised in almost every notice, including the harsher ones, and the production design and recreation of fourth-century Alexandria draw consistent admiration.

The reservations cluster on the drama rather than the argument. Several critics find the style heavy, the supporting characters thin and the emotional temperature low, with the science sometimes crowding out the people. The spread is wide: The New York Times and The Guardian recommend it firmly, while Slant Magazine finds it pointless and dramatically slack, The AV Club calls it a shallow assault on Christianity that turns people into symbols, and The Telegraph judges it an ambitious mess. Only one review is outright negative, but half the reviews are mixed.

## Straight answers

**Is Agora worth watching?**

*Agora* is worth watching if you want a historical drama that is about ideas rather than swords, and we scored it 66. Rachel Weisz is the reason to stay, along with the lamplit lessons and Guy Hendrix Dyas's plaster-and-dust Alexandria. Be patient with it: Amenábar keeps telling us what to think when he could have trusted us.

**How long is Agora, and what is it rated?**

*Agora* runs 2h 07m and is rated 16 by the PISF in Poland. It is an adventure and drama film.

**Where can I watch Agora in Poland?**

*Agora* is not on any streaming or rental service in Poland at the moment. It is available in 14 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Agora, and is it suitable for children?**

*Agora* carries a UK 12, and its violence is riots, sieges and a mob sacking a library rather than anything gory or lingering. The scholars are besieged and the streets turn ugly, but Amenábar cuts it briskly and pulls the camera away to orbit rather than dwelling. It is fine for teenagers; younger children will find the philosophy slow and the crowds frightening.

**How does Agora compare to The Others?**

*Agora* is Alejandro Amenábar's louder film and [*The Others*](https://film.one/film/the-others) is his better one. The ghost story trusts a dark house, a look and the time spent waiting; the Alexandria drama keeps clearing its throat and explaining itself. Go to *Agora* for Weisz and the buildings, and to *The Others* if you want to see what this director can do with silence.

**What should I watch after Agora?**

After *Agora*, try [*The Others*](https://film.one/film/the-others) (2001, Fi1m 80): Amenábar with the volume down; a haunted house that trusts a look over a speech. Then [*Of Gods and Men*](https://film.one/film/of-gods-and-men) (2010, Fi1m 84): French monks in Algeria decide whether to stay; quiet, plain and shattering.

### Reviews we read (13)

- **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (84/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a rousing, intellectually provocative drama that avoids easy genre categories and bristles with ideas and topical provocations. He highlights the central story of Hypatia pursuing cosmic mysteries amid personal and historical conflicts in ancient Alexandria. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/movies/28agora.html)
- **Empire**, Phil de Semlyen (80/100, inferred): The film offers a bold, thought-provoking return for director Amenábar and a timely assault on religious intolerance. It is always intelligent and a welcome comeback from the director of The Others. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/agora-review/)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (80/100, inferred): The critic finds it an ambitious and cerebral historical drama that stands out from typical sword-and-sandal epics by focusing on ideas and real drama rather than spectacle. Rachel Weisz's performance as Hypatia is singled out as outstanding. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/apr/22/agora-review)
- **The Hollywood Reporter** (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film hampered by a heavy-handed opening and conventional epic tropes but values its timely parable on religious intolerance and fundamentalism, highlighting Rachel Weisz's strong performance as the intellectually passionate Hypatia. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/agora-film-review-93172/)
- **The Times**, Cosmo Landesman (70/100, inferred): The critic praises it as a thoughtful, adult film that reflects on religious extremism through its historical setting and natural dialogue, commending the avoidance of heavy spectacle. Weisz's performance is highlighted as strong, though the film lacks some intimacy with its central character. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/agora-xdh7xz3bsxd)
- **Variety**, Todd McCarthy (67/100, inferred): The review describes a visually imposing epic that ambitiously dramatizes a pivotal historical shift through Hypatia's story, with spectacular production values and clear parallels to modern religious fundamentalism. It notes the film's intellectual seriousness and impressive physical production but criticizes a certain heaviness of style and lack of emotional pulse. [Read](https://variety.com/2009/film/markets-festivals/agora-1200474813/)
- **Screen Daily** (64/100, inferred): The critic views the film as an ambitious but flawed historical epic that shows the early church violently oppressing science, women and other faiths. It praises the top-notch production design and spectacle but criticises weak narrative cohesion, unconvincing accents and dense scientific focus that limits audience engagement. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/agora-/5001280.article)
- **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (3/5): The critic finds Amenábar’s ancient-historical drama of ideas a sweeping but uneven recreation of 4th-century Alexandria, with strong visuals of volatility and impending violence. It singles out the acute portrayal of how religious fervour interrupts secular knowledge as its most welcome element, though supporting characters remain thin. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/agora)
- **Evening Standard** (50/100, inferred): Amenábar only half succeeds with this lavish historical epic, as big budgets and subtlety seldom go together. Rachel Weisz gives an excellent performance as the polymath Hypatia whose work is destroyed by fundamentalism. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/learning-is-dangerous-in-agora-7419585.html)
- **The AV Club**, Tasha Robinson (C-): The review deems the film a shrill, shallow attack on Christianity that reduces characters to symbols, praising its cinematography and Weisz's charismatic lead performance while criticizing the lack of historical or dramatic coherence. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/agora-1798165482)
- **The Telegraph** (**): The review calls the film a highbrow mess despite its ambition and gumption, criticising its lack of common sense, clunky elements and failure to do its ideas justice. Some praise goes to individual images and performances amid the flaws. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/7620761/Agora-review.html)
- **Slant Magazine** (38/100, inferred): The critic calls the film an innocuous and pointless epic that fails to convincingly argue for reason over zealotry, singling out its weak dramatic conviction, listless melodrama, and mawkish messaging. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/agora/)
- **Digital Spy**, Stella Papamichael (75/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's recreation of ancient Alexandria and its emphasis on the importance of questioning and humanism, while noting that the lead character can seem too ethereal and the script does not fully explore personal conflicts. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a214099/agora/)

## Details

- **Director:** Alejandro Amenábar
- **Director:** Alejandro Amenábar
- **Writer:** Mateo Gil, Alejandro Amenábar
- **Cinematography:** Xavi Giménez
- **Editor:** Nacho Ruiz Capillas
- **Music:** Dario Marianelli
- **Production design:** Guy Hendrix Dyas
- **Costume design:** Gabriella Pescucci
- **Producer:** Fernando Bovaira, Álvaro Augustín
- **Cast:** Rachel Weisz as Hypatia; Max Minghella as Davus; Oscar Isaac as Orestes; Ashraf Barhom as Ammonius; Michael Lonsdale as Theon; Rupert Evans as Synesius; Homayoun Ershadi as Aspasius; Sami Samir as Cyril
- **Runtime:** 2h 07m
- **Certificate (PISF):** 16
- **Release (Poland):** 12 March 2010
- **Genres:** Adventure, Drama, History
- **Budget:** $70 million
- **Box office:** $39 million

## Where to watch in Poland

Not streaming, renting or buying in Poland at the last check.

Also available in: AR, AT, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, DE, EC, ES, MX, PA, PE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2010: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (nominated)
- Goya Award for Best Art Direction 2010: Goya Award for Best Art Direction (won)
- Goya Award for Best Cinematography 2010: Goya Award for Best Cinematography (won)
- Goya Award for Best Costume Design 2010: Goya Award for Best Costume Design (won)
- Goya Award for Best Original Screenplay 2010: Goya Award for Best Original Screenplay (won)
- Goya Award for Best Production Supervision 2010: Goya Award for Best Production Supervision (won)
- Goya Award for Best Special Effects 2010: Goya Award for Best Special Effects (won)

## If you liked this

- *The Name of the Rose* (1986): Monks, murders and a library that some people would rather nobody read
- *The Others* (2001), Fi1m 80: Amenábar with the volume down; a haunted house that trusts a look over a speech — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-others.md)
- *Silence* (2016): Scorsese on faith under persecution, and honest about how little comfort it offers
- *Fellini Satyricon* (1969): The ancient world as a fever dream, with none of the tidy lessons
- *Of Gods and Men* (2010), Fi1m 84: French monks in Algeria decide whether to stay; quiet, plain and shattering — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/of-gods-and-men.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/agora