(NYT  May, 2008)  For a tale spiked with so much torment, ”Fugitive Pieces” feels remarkably soothing. Supplying much of the comfort is Stephen Dillane’s gentle, understated performance as the film’s haunted protagonist, Jakob Beer. As a terrified 9-year-old in Nazi-occupied Poland, Jakob watched as soldiers slaughtered his parents and abducted his older sister. Now a respected author and teacher, Jakob remains shackled to memories that draw him ever inward and repel his high-spirited young wife, Alex (a touching Rosamund Pike). ”To live with ghosts requires solitude,” he allows in voice-over; and it’s a measure of Mr. Dillane’s talent (recently seen in the role of Thomas Jefferson in the HBO series ”John Adams”) that his character never becomes a self-pitying bore.

(NYT  May, 2008)  For a tale spiked with so much torment, ”Fugitive Pieces” feels remarkably soothing.

Supplying much of the comfort is Stephen Dillane’s gentle, understated performance as the film’s haunted protagonist, Jakob Beer. As a terrified 9-year-old in Nazi-occupied Poland, Jakob watched as soldiers slaughtered his parents and abducted his older sister. Now a respected author and teacher, Jakob remains shackled to memories that draw him ever inward and repel his high-spirited young wife, Alex (a touching Rosamund Pike).

”To live with ghosts requires solitude,” he allows in voice-over; and it’s a measure of Mr. Dillane’s talent (recently seen in the role of Thomas Jefferson in the HBO series ”John Adams”) that his character never becomes a self-pitying bore.