91
One of European cinema’s most unclassifiable auteurs has delivered the bitter pill we deserve.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
60
Screen Daily by Jonathan Romney
Whatever the film’s flaws, this is certainly the most unrepentantly confrontational work we’ve yet seen from Jude - and perhaps from any Romanian director. And, as the beleaguered, improbable figure of scandal at the centre of it all, stage actress Pascariu impresses with a crisply reserved performance.
63
Slant Magazine by Keith Watson
After a while, it’s hard not to feel like Radu Jude is simply shooting fish in a barrel.
60
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
The film is a contemptuous slap at boredom, at hypocrisy and at everything petty and mean. I’m not sure that it entirely transcends all these things, but there’s a rebellious spark.
70
A simple premise can serve as a portal to profound social critique, for those willing to take the plunge.
83
The Film Stage by Rory O'Connor
It is an incendiary, playful, and wonderfully exasperated piece of filmmaking that shows a director trying to draw some threads of sense from our current malaise.
60
The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Dalton
The humor is broad, the satirical targets many, the overall effect mixed.