80
The second collaboration between helmer Susanne Bier and scriptwriter Anders Thomas Jensen once again shows what skilled artists can do with a story that might have ended up filled with cliches.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
60
Sounds rather soapy and melodramatic, but director Susanne Bier, assisted by an able cast, ensures the traumas are painfully realistic and subtly observed.
100
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
A triumph of psychological drama, owing as much to Ms. Bier's sensitive style as to Anders Thomas Jensen's smart screenplay, based on Bier's own story idea.
75
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
Tapping into the basest fears of war while subverting all expectations, director Susanne Bier deftly reads between the headlines.
90
The Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt
Everyone involved -- actors, crew, director Susanne Bier and screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen in their second collaboration -- are in peak form in this unflinching look at repressed feelings and emotional devastation.
50
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
Brothers emerges as no less or more than Bier's claustrophobic compositions and unimaginative choices.
70
Film Threat by Pete Vonder Haar
What sets Bier's film apart from similar fare are the consistently fine performances and powerful scenes of surprising ferocity.
70
A movie so nice she made it twice, Susanne Bier's Dogme-certified feature "Open Hearts" gets a slight makeover in her follow-up Brothers, another raw melodrama about three lives recalibrated by sudden tragedy.
80
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
Filmed in the unadorned Dogme style and acted with a ferocious intensity.
75
Director Susanne Bier is helped by a well-chosen cast, especially the glowing Nielsen, a Danish-born actress best known for American films like "Gladiator."