Village Voice by Diana Clarke

Cutting between present, childhood, and recent past, Bispuri constructs a subtle, richly emotional collage.

Slant Magazine by Clayton Dillard

Given its nearly episodic structure, formal choices, and similar thematic inquiries, Sworn Virgin suggests an unofficial remake of Vivre Sa Vie.

The Playlist by Jessica Kiang

Uplifting in a tiny, understated and very authentic way, Sworn Virgin shows us gently how its possible to be living in exile in the world you know best, and how it's possible to come home to a place you've never been before.

The Film Stage by Michael Snydel

Bispuri’s feature debut makes a powerful statement about the suffocation that can come with gender norms, and about the double-edged sword of gender performance.

Time Out by Joshua Rothkopf

The real-life setup is a knockout, both ancient and timely, and even though Rohrwacher never quite passes — she looks too much like Barbra Streisand’s "Yentl" — the movie is on to a larger point, namely about the fluidity of sexual identity and our universal penchant for self-reinvention. The film builds slowly but deserves an audience eager to discuss it.

CineVue by Patrick Gamble

A poignant study of gender politics enshrined within an anthropologically fascinating drama.

Los Angeles Times by Justin Chang

Skipping deftly between time frames while keeping her camera close to her protagonist — played with tremulous understatement by the remarkable actress Alba Rohrwacher — Bispuri traces a journey of delicate interior shifts and reversals.

Screen Daily by Lee Marshall

The script puts artsy effect before character credibility.

Variety by Guy Lodge

[A] sensitive, deliberate debut feature.

Screen International by Lee Marshall

The script puts artsy effect before character credibility.

The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young

It feels like every script-reader in the Italian-Swiss-German-Albanian-Kosovo coproduction cut out a line of dialogue in each scene, leaving behind an irritating silence and an enigmatic puzzle for the audience to second-guess.

RogerEbert.com by Godfrey Cheshire

Sworn Virgin is not the first film to give the impression that, in current European art cinema, religion is the one subject that dare not speak its name.

The New York Times by Ben Kenigsberg

Although Ms. Rohrwacher captures Mark’s uncertain, shifting physicality, the movie doesn’t always succeed in getting inside the character’s head.