Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum

Rosetta is a character of raw pride in a film of lingering power.

Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum

You feel it in your nervous system before you get a chance to reflect on its meaning.

Boston Globe by Jay Carr

The bleakness of Rosetta will not be for all, but it's one of the best films of the year.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

The film has an odd subterranean power. It doesn't strive for our sympathy or make any effort to portray Rosetta as colorful, winning or sympathetic.

New York Daily News by Jami Bernard

An immensely uplifting movie whose final, unforgettable frames come as close as anything to answering the big questions about why we bother in a dog-eat-dog world.

Mr. Showbiz by Richard Jameson

The final reel of Rosetta is like nothing else ever filmed, and it would be wrong to describe it.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Paula Nechak

This devastating film is buoyed by Dequenne's bravura willingness to go all out; she's a baby-faced kid when the camera focuses full on and an exceptionally beautiful young woman in profile.

Time by Richard Corliss

The purity of Dequenne's performance inspires awe.

Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan

Grabs you by the throat and won't let go.

Film.com by Peter Brunette

This kind of film, in its various manifestations recurring through the decades, gives us confidence that cinema can ultimately get to the heart of things.

Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt

Carries a strong emotional charge along with its valuable reminder of the suffering that youngsters may undergo when a heedless society overlooks their needs.

New York Post by Jonathan Foreman

Bleak, demanding stuff, and its hand-held documentary-style photography is harder on the stomach than "The Blair Witch Project."

Village Voice by J. Hoberman

Pummeling, jagged, and extremely well-edited film.

TV Guide Magazine by Ken Fox

A psychologically acute profile of one teenaged girl obsessed with leading what she thinks of as normal life.

L.A. Weekly by Manohla Dargis

A portrait of dispossession so acute that it's caused a few critics to cry, Let her eat cake!