Variety by Alissa Simon

Marking her fifth feature, Bergroth flexes her considerable cinematic powers, conjuring vibrantly expressive visuals and confident performances from her talented cast, especially the petite theater thesp Pöysti, who excels in her first leading film role and strongly resembles the real Tove.

Screen Daily by Allan Hunter

Tove has great charm, craft and a warming glow.

San Francisco Chronicle by G. Allen Johnson

Poysti’s subtle, layered performance conveys Tove’s complex dilemma with sweetness and pain. This is a portrait not of a lady on fire, but of a woman struggling to strike the match.

The New Yorker by Anthony Lane

Whereas Cruella sent me back to Dodie Smith, as a blessed escape from what Disney has done to her creations, Tove dispatched me down a rabbit hole, or through a Moomin door. I recommend the trip.

The Hollywood Reporter by Leslie Felperin

Along the way, parallels with key characters from the children's stories and their adventures are gestured at vaguely. But the film doesn't particularly require in-depth knowledge of Moominism and can be enjoyed for its bright performances, on-point costumes and sets, and empathic portrait of young love.

The Observer (UK) by Simran Hans

Alma Pöysti is luminous as Jansson, bringing to life her playful, pleasure-seeking artist’s spirit.

The Irish Times by Tara Brady

This is a rather conventional artist’s biopic for an unconventional person and it’s a film that ends as suddenly (and frustratingly) as it begins.

Empire

A solid if slight look at the quicksilver, complex character behind one of children’s literature’s most beloved creations.

The Guardian by Cath Clarke

Where biopics often end up with a cardboard-tasting blandness, the focus on Jansson’s interior world gives this film moments that really come to life.

Empire by Liz Beardsworth

A solid if slight look at the quicksilver, complex character behind one of children’s literature’s most beloved creations.

The New York Times by Teo Bugbee

The soft-focus cinematography is beautiful but drippy, and this general tendency toward mushy melodramatics presents an unflattering contrast to the sharp-lined vivacity that Jansson brought to the page.