80
As the couple’s life becomes more and more insular, Costanzio subtly builds the drama into suspense that’s utterly natural and smart.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
38
Throughout, Saverio Costanzo hypocritically drapes his scenes in a cloak of faux-empathy.
50
The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young
The idea is original enough to pique curiosity, and the small cast, led by Alba Rohrwacher and the up-and-coming Adam Driver of HBO’s Girls fame, digs gamely into the material, but something is missing.
40
It’s as if the director can’t decide what he wants: to chronicle the disintegration of a family, or to take a magnifying glass to a woman whose mania overwhelms all rational thought.
40
Although there is certainly tension at moments and Driver once more proves himself an actor of great promise, Hungry Hearts falls between two baby chairs - neither satisfying as a thriller nor convincing as a drama.
50
Beginning as an adorable romcom, Hungry Hearts morphs into a disturbing but not particularly illuminating story of mental illness.
40
It’s a slow-motion horror movie founded on utter nonsense.
83
The Playlist by Nikola Grozdanovic
With a unique blend of style and content, an escalating discomfort in atmosphere, a score that sounds like it was spawned from the nether regions of hell, and three ferocious performances, Hungry Hearts is this year’s most unique horror film.
40
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
It is a tense, claustrophobic nightmare, played with sincerity and force, particularly by Adam Driver. But a strident orchestral score keeps intruding, dark chords telling us how scared we ought to be, and it is as if Costanzo is not content with an ultra-real relationship drama, and wants his film to be some kind of heavy-handed horror-thriller too.
50
Village Voice by Serena Donadoni
Hungry Hearts owes much to early Polanski (especially Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby), but Costanzo prizes ambiguity over tension.