Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt

A triumph of psychological drama, owing as much to Ms. Bier's sensitive style as to Anders Thomas Jensen's smart screenplay, based on Bier's own story idea.

Premiere by Peter Debruge

Brothers takes a scenario as old as Genesis – two jealous siblings spar over the affections of the same woman – and renders it fresh and immediate, by virtue of the warm, almost maternal, generosity director Susanne Bier shows her characters.

San Francisco Chronicle by Ruthe Stein

Imaginative and immensely engrossing film.

Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum

We do live in a fraught world of interconnections, Bier makes clear, and what happens far away matters, in unexpected ways, close to home.

The Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt

Everyone involved -- actors, crew, director Susanne Bier and screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen in their second collaboration -- are in peak form in this unflinching look at repressed feelings and emotional devastation.

Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern

A drama of uncommon moral complexity, unexpected humor, convincing transformations (for good and bad) and, best of all, vibrant, unpredictable energy. In a movie landscape littered with dead souls, here's a live one.

Newsweek by David Ansen

Gripping from start to finish.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Rick Groen

A powerful, brutal, funny, tragic, vibrant, very human movie.

Charlotte Observer by Lawrence Toppman

The two male leads, bulwarks of the Danish film industry for more than a decade, play off each other like the veterans they are.

The New York Times by Stephen Holden

Filmed in the unadorned Dogme style and acted with a ferocious intensity.

Variety

The second collaboration between helmer Susanne Bier and scriptwriter Anders Thomas Jensen once again shows what skilled artists can do with a story that might have ended up filled with cliches.

New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman

Tapping into the basest fears of war while subverting all expectations, director Susanne Bier deftly reads between the headlines.

New York Post by V.A. Musetto

Director Susanne Bier is helped by a well-chosen cast, especially the glowing Nielsen, a Danish-born actress best known for American films like "Gladiator."

The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias

A movie so nice she made it twice, Susanne Bier's Dogme-certified feature "Open Hearts" gets a slight makeover in her follow-up Brothers, another raw melodrama about three lives recalibrated by sudden tragedy.

Film Threat by Pete Vonder Haar

What sets Bier's film apart from similar fare are the consistently fine performances and powerful scenes of surprising ferocity.

Empire by Dan Jolin

Sounds rather soapy and melodramatic, but director Susanne Bier, assisted by an able cast, ensures the traumas are painfully realistic and subtly observed.

Village Voice by Michael Atkinson

Brothers emerges as no less or more than Bier's claustrophobic compositions and unimaginative choices.