65
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90VarietyDavid StrattonVarietyDavid StrattonGuediguian's seemingly sprawling but in fact quite precise picture takes a while to establish itself, but is eventually rewarding viewing.
- 90Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranIntimate and human yet deeply ambitious, a powerhouse of a film made with a disturbing vision.
- 83Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean AxmakerSeattle Post-IntelligencerSean AxmakerFumbling characters find that survival is not a matter of economics alone, it's also a matter of hope.
- 80L.A. WeeklyErnest HardyL.A. WeeklyErnest HardyLeaves you reeling from the force of the humanity it captures and -- in its own gut-wrenching way -- honors.
- 63Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanCharlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanThe sense of loneliness and disaffection makes its effect. Guédiguian offers no answers, and the hope he supplies is almost surreal.
- 58Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanIt doesn't quite wash. Guédiguian has a telling instinct for the buried shame of working-class squalor, but his film is inflated with a doom that feels programmatic rather than earned.
- 50Chicago ReaderTed ShenChicago ReaderTed ShenSome of the film's situations and motivations seem convenient or underdeveloped, but Ascaride and Darroussin are riveting, and Guediguian's frankness and empathy illuminate this kaleidoscope of lonely lives.
- 50New Times (L.A.)Gregory WeinkaufNew Times (L.A.)Gregory WeinkaufThe challenge faced here by writer-director Robert Guédiguian (Charge!) is to keep his cheap melodrama from curdling his insightful societal appraisal.
- 40Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanThe last-minute combination of Greek tragedy and Janis Joplin is so genuinely startling that, had the movie been shorted by a third, it might have turned everything around.