Lorenzo Odone, a Virginia 5-year-old, develops a degenerative nerve disease so rare that nobody is working on a cure, so his parents decide to immerse themselves in research and tackle the problem themselves.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.0/10
IMDb: 7.3/10
Letterboxd: 3.50/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Metacritic: 80
TMDB: 7.1/10
Director
George Miller
Production
Kennedy Miller Productions
Cast
Nick Nolte, Susan Sarandon, Peter Ustinov, Ann Hearn, Maduka Steady, Aaron Jackson, Laura Linney, Kathleen Wilhoite, Gerry Bamman, Margo Martindale, James Rebhorn, Colin Ward, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Jennifer Dundas, William Cameron, Becky Ann Baker, Mary Pat Gleason, David Shiner, Ann Dowd, Peter MacKenzie
Curator Review
Verdict
A serious, emotionally forceful medical drama that turns a rare-disease story into a portrait of parental devotion, stubbornness, and the limits of medicine. It’s melodramatic, but George Miller gives it unusual energy and urgency, and the performances make the film land harder than a standard prestige tearjerker.
Best for
viewers who like true-story dramas with high emotional stakes
fans of performance-driven family and medical dramas
people interested in science, advocacy, and desperate problem-solving
audiences open to earnest, old-school prestige filmmaking
Skip if
you want a light or easy watch
you dislike heightened melodrama or awards-season seriousness
you prefer films with a detached, clinical tone
you’re sensitive to stories about child illness and parental grief
Overview
Lorenzo's Oil is the kind of movie that could have been a routine prestige weepie, but George Miller pushes it into something stranger and more alive. The film is built around grief, research, and bureaucratic frustration, yet it keeps finding bursts of theatrical intensity in the performances and staging. That gives the story a pulse that makes the medical details feel urgent rather than merely procedural.
Worth noting
Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon anchor the film with fierce, exhausted conviction. Their characters are not presented as saints so much as people refusing to accept helplessness, and that refusal becomes the movie’s emotional engine. The result is moving, sometimes abrasive, and often more chaotic than polished.
Bottom line
It’s not an easy recommendation if you’re looking for comfort, but it is a strong one if you appreciate earnest dramas that commit fully to their premise. The film’s sincerity, craft, and sense of struggle have aged better than its reputation suggests.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Les_Vampires (4.5★) · 1092 likes
Hollywood Man: Okay George this is really simple Oscar bait stuff. Just show the parent's being super sad, slap some ugly makeup on the kid, and film in flat lighting and we'll all have Oscars by next year.
George Miller: Sounds good. I had a thought though. What if when the father learns of the disease we flash giant words super-imposed over his face and then have him collapse down the stairs clutching his chest like a Greek tragedy?
Hollywood… more
James (Schaffrillas) (4.5★) · 718 likes
The weirdest George Miller movie in the sense that it's the only one that's just completely normal
matt lynch (4★) · 214 likes
so full of pragmatism and empathy without sacrificing melodrama. it's a good thing i don't have kids. is this kind of totally slept on?
724981604398 · 198 likes
Everyone: *in a serious drama about dealing with the inevitable death of a child*
Nick Nolte: ITSA ME! A-MARIO! LA PAPA DE LORENZO! PASTA DE ZPAGHETT
Harrison (2★) · 174 likes
susan sarandon: my son lorenzo is dying
italian nick nolte: itsa mee, italian nicka noltee! feeda him da spaghetti witha da olive oil! mama mia!! itsa lorenzos oil!
A serious, compassionate film about bodily decline, autonomy, and the moral weight of care.
Topics
medical drama, true story, family tragedy, emotional, hope vs despair, 1990s drama, prestige cinema, science and advocacy, parental sacrifice, tearjerker