90
Bruno Dumont's Hadewijch is one of two small-release art films this season that deliver nuanced and fascinating portraits of faith.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
Boxoffice Magazine by Barbara Goslawski
As in "L'Humanité" and "Twentynine Palms," the director presents a cogent study of emotional excess with a sure handed control that harkens back to Robert Bresson.
80
There's a darker, fanatical side to blindness too-and this is the movie to show it. Leave all judgments behind.
100
San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle
Dumont makes movies that almost nobody wants to see. That doesn't make him a great filmmaker, but he's a great filmmaker all the same.
38
New Orleans Times-Picayune by Mike Scott
Dumont's fans might find this latest exercise enjoyable, but his style of filmmaking is an acquired taste. I doubt those without that taste are going to acquire it here.
80
Village Voice by Nick Pinkerton
With Hadewijch, he (Dumont) endorses something like the Dardenne brothers' rugged, squalid secular humanism, offering the barrier-breaking embrace as vague alternative to Despair, Church, or Capital.
90
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
If Hadewijch is Mr. Dumont's most overtly religious film, it is not pro-faith in any specific way, although the director clearly respects the religious impulse.
75
An exploration of the power of religion -- should delight Dumont's fans. For others, it will take a bit of getting used to. The effort will prove to be worthwhile.