60
Lea van Acken is outstanding but Dietrich Brüggemann’s severe gaze invites voyeurism, not empathy. A stony, stifling if fascinating film.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
67
Formally, Stations Of The Cross is a rigorous achievement; there’s a purity, cinematic if not spiritual, to the way Bru?ggemann carefully composes each static shot, as though they all really were paintings to be arranged in succession along a line of pews. It’s less successful on a dramatic level.
70
Village Voice by Alan Scherstuhl
The ending's a touch too cute, but the best scenes here stand as potent, empathetic, well-observed broadsides against fundamentalism.
90
The Hollywood Reporter by Boyd van Hoeij
Newcomer Van Acken is a phenomenal find and she’s never less than believably torn between doing the right thing and being her own person.
75
RogerEbert.com by Brian Tallerico
Despite that emotional distance, the film is carried by young actress Lea van Acken, forced to really emotionally deliver given the lack of camera tricks some actors use as a crutch.
75
Slant Magazine by Clayton Dillard
Stations of the Cross acknowledges that putting theoretical behaviors and mindsets into practice can have unwieldy consequences if context and intent are wholly ignored.
70
The fixed gaze of each “station” is an appropriate choice for illustrating unbending dogma, and helmer Brueggemann always makes interesting use of the frame.
80
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
It is all intensely controlled, although this is a drama that goes by the book, in all senses; there are no unabsorbed events to disorder the parable’s secular/religious alignment, and the Greeneian miracle it eventually conjures is arguably a little too pat. Yet it is also strangely moving.
60
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
As Maria crumples before our eyes, many will find Stations of the Cross heartbreaking and infuriating. Others may laugh out loud at her mother, a walking nightmare of pious, punishing rectitude.
60
Time Out London by Trevor Johnston
The film showcases Lea Van Acken’s remarkable central performance and director Dietrich Brüggemann’s adept control of a deliberately rigorous aesthetic.