75
Trishna is in love with India without romanticizing it.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
50
Slant Magazine by Andrew Schenker
Class privilege and sexual politics are inextricably linked in Trishna, Michael Winterbottom's blunt, self-consciously brutal, and rather loose updating of Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles."
60
The ever-versatile Winterbottom's loose and limber adaptation doesn't entirely mesh with Hardy's more formal narrative, leaving this feeling disjointed and underpowered. Nevertheless, there's still plenty to enjoy in the director's customary flourishes.
50
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
Michael Winterbottom's films aren't always successful, but they're almost always interesting. And, in the case of this odd transplantation from Thomas Hardy's grim Wessex to the glare and blare of contemporary India, spectacular visually, though awfully somber dramatically.
60
Winterbottom's risks are welcome; it may be time, though, to invest more heart instead of head.
40
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
Life is suffering, as the Buddha said (including in Hardy's emotionally grinding novels), but it's more complex and contradictory than the ginned-up realism Mr. Winterbottom delivers here.
60
Some will balk at Pinto's passivity, but Trishna again shows Winterbottom to be one of the few directors today who are liberated, rather than constricted, by classic literature.
50
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
The shots of urban traffic jams have more spark than the story, which skips from a pregnancy to the filming of a musical to murder - without convincing us of any of it.
40
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
Winterbottom's location work in Jaipur and Mumbai has richness and spectacle, but somehow this does not come fully to life.
65
Movieline by Stephanie Zacharek
Though it's a bit of an oddity, it's an affecting curio suitable for both Hardy enthusiasts and Winterbottom fans alike.