75
New York Post by V.A. Musetto
Anne Coesens, wife of the film's director, Olivier Masset-Depasse, gives a strong performance as Tania.
Illegal (Illégal)
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- Belgium,
- Luxembourg,
- France
- 2010
- · 90m
Director
Olivier Masset-Depasse
Cast
Anne Coesens,
Alexandre Gontcharov,
Milo Masset-Depasse,
Natalia Belokonskaya
Genre
Drama
Tania, the single mother of a young boy from Belarus, brings her family to Belgium in search of a better life. However, when she is discovered to be living there illegally, she is locked in a detention center and must fight to reunite with her son and avoid threats of deportation.
Stream Illegal
What are critics saying?
70
Variety
A prolonged stay in a Belgian immigration detention center causes more than a few chinks in the armor of a strong-willed Russian femme in Illegal, Olivier Masset-Depasse's fascinating study of perseverance in the face of subhuman treatment.
70
Variety by Boyd van Hoeij
A prolonged stay in a Belgian immigration detention center causes more than a few chinks in the armor of a strong-willed Russian femme in Illegal, Olivier Masset-Depasse's fascinating study of perseverance in the face of subhuman treatment.
60
Time Out by Joshua Rothkopf
Illegal has caused a stir in Belgium, and the sincerity of the movie can't be denied. But there's little emotion to hold on to, apart from a mother's impotent concern about her wayward teenage son (Gontcharov), still on the outside.
50
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
One problem is that while Mr. Masset-Depasse frames Tania's status in vague political terms, he doesn't make an argument. Instead he creates heroes and villains in what is, by turns, a prison flick, a psychological thriller and a maternal melodrama.
40
Village Voice by Melissa Anderson
Blunt, loud, and showboaty, Illegal suffers even more when compared with another recent Liège-set film about the horrors faced by paperless immigrants: the Dardennes' "Lorna's Silence."
Loading recommendations...
Loading recommendations...