50
Fortunately, Chicken With Plums does have its pleasures, including Isabella Rossellini as the silkily jaded mother.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
The result is captivating, but not exactly moving: Nasser-Ali's grand passion is posited rather than communicated, in spite of Mr. Amalric's exquisitely soulful performance.
75
Slant Magazine by Elise Nakhnikian
A fable about the damage done when a young couple is forced to part, Chicken with Plums is deeply melancholic, yet so full of humor and humanity that it pulses with life even while tracing the trajectory of a slow suicide.
60
There's some magic in the grab-bag method, but with all the furious wand-waving, the story itself never gets to cast much of a spell.
83
While visually scrumptious, the movie struggles to reach a greater profundity that it never quite obtains, but its childlike emulation of a grand tragedy is indelibly precious.
80
You have no idea what's coming next, except that it will be wildly creative and beautiful. These two know how to mix up a very unusual and successful cinematic recipe.
60
Sit in the front – and don't peer too hard – and Chicken With Plums casts an undeniable spell. It is bold, exotic and distinctive, particularly during the animated angel of death sequence.