80
Tying up his trilogy in style, Seidl's film unsettles and provokes with wit and composure.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
Los Angeles Times by Betsy Sharkey
The most hopeful — and the best — of this solid and unsettling series.
80
The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney
There’s uncustomary warmth here and a sensitivity to the characters’ vulnerabilities that often is missing from this director’s work.
75
We can't help but feel that by comparison with the meaty and compelling issues he takes on so fearlessly, so scabrously in the other entries, Paradise: Hope ends up somewhat toothless.
70
Paradise: Hope has humor and warmth, and shows more genuine affection and kindness toward its characters than Seidl usually allows.
83
The A.V. Club by Mike D'Angelo
This tale of a creepy pedophilic relationship is the most tender, nuanced, and deeply felt picture Seidl has ever made. What’s more, there’s no need to have seen the other two films, as Hope works beautifully all by its lonesome.
80
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
The love story – and it can be called that – between the doctor and Melanie is presented with candour and tenderness. There is a new humanity to Seidl's work; it could be his best film so far.
75
Miami Herald by Rene Rodriguez
Paradise: Hope plays better if you’ve seen the previous two movies, so you can savor the reach and scope of Seidl’s trilogy. But the film stands alone as a tender portrait of adolescence at its most vulnerable and how we manage to survive it, even when surrounded by predators and wolves.
80
Against the odds this is a sometimes droll and surprisingly tender affair, and a fitting end to Seidl’s magnum opus.
60
Time Out London by Trevor Johnston
Seidl gestures towards understanding rather than confrontation – turning in a slighter, softer-grained film than its predecessors, but no worse for it.