Cast
Jonathan Pryce Kim Greist 
Robert De Niro 
Katherine Helmond 
Ian Holm 
Bob Hoskins
Credits
Written by: 
Terry Gilliam
Plot
In a retro-futuristic, bureaucratic dystopia, Sam Lowry is a mild civil servant who spends his time dreaming of flying over clouds to rescue a woman. A clerical error leads to the arrest and death of an innocent man, and when Sam tries to put it right he meets the woman of his dreams in real life, and the system turns on him.
Sinekatalog’s take
A darkly funny, visually overwhelming satire of bureaucracy that Gilliam had to fight to release in the US. Its pipes, paperwork and sly jokes make it a cult classic, and its ending is bleak.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.
Ratings
IMDb: 7.8 / 10 (223,721 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.