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The Woman Who Left(Ang Babaeng Humayo)

✭ ✭ ✭ ✭   Read critic reviews

Philippines · 2017
3h 47m
Director Lav Diaz
Starring Charo Santos-Concio, John Lloyd Cruz, Michael De Mesa, Nonie Buencamino
Genre Drama

After spending the last 30 years in prison for a crime she did not commit, Horacia is finally released when someone else confesses to the crime. Still overwhelmed by her new freedom, she comes to the painful realization that her aristocratic former lover had set her up and sees the opportunity to plot her revenge.

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What are critics saying?

100

The New York Times by A.O. Scott

The film makes uncompromising demands on your attention and your empathy. But it is also illuminating and, in its downbeat, deliberate way, exhilarating.

80

CineVue by Ben Nicholson

Its specific frame of reference sees it build to a bleak and powerful conclusion, if one devoid of much hope.

75

Entertainment Weekly by Chris Nashawaty

The Woman Who Left may not be a movie for everyone, but if you allow yourself to settle into its leisurely tempo and marinate in its heroine’s journey, it can be a richly rewarding experience.

83

The Film Stage by Ethan Vestby

Highlighted by the black-and-white, The Woman Who Left is as nocturnal as the best noir, one of those films in which every transition from nighttime to daytime registers as a shock.

80

Variety by Guy Lodge

This occasionally transcendent opus finds Diaz’s formal powers — not least his own incisive monochrome lensing — at full strength.

80

Screen International by Jonathan Romney

At once over-repetitive and less surprisingly digressive than some of his other films, The Woman Who Left may not represent Diaz at his absolute peak, but it’s a powerful, thoughtful melodrama that pulls you into its world and delivers a number of irresistible emotional coups.

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