Critic Reviews

• Richard Brody, New Yorker

  Vague conjurings of mood take the place of insight, sentiment takes the place of complexity, and a clumsy and superficial attention to the rigid script keeps the movie from coming to life.

• Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

  A dark, and rather disturbing debut.

• Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post

  Winocour skillfully films Augustine being exhibited for other doctors in several disturbingly erotic scenes, but elsewhere Soko's stolid, one-note demeanor takes a toll.

• John Anderson, Wall Street Journal

  Soko is terrific, but it is Mr. Lindon who delivers the performance of the film, his internalized consternation amounting to an eloquent dispatch from the war between the sexes.

• A.O. Scott, New York Times

  Ms. Winocour is not inclined to turn "Augustine" into a neatly moralized fable of a predator and his victim. Rather, the film is what might be called a melodrama of transference ...

• Mark Jenkins, NPR

  Visually, the film conjures the past with shadowy interiors and harsh light. Winocour, who also scripted, often makes her points without words.

• Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru

  Emotionally believable performances by Vincent Lindon and Soko can't save Augustine from meandering and being tediously stuck in its 1st act.

• Nora Lee Mandel, Film-Forward.com

  Hand-held camera gives contemporary realism amidst the historically correct costumes and surroundings. . .[but] feminist iconography . . .makes the phenomenon seem a charade.

• Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

  Newcomer director Alice Winocour drafts an erotically charged and socially complex telling of a controversial 19th century neurologist and the nubile patient he treats.

• Nathan Southern, TV Guide's Movie Guide

  It would be fascinating to know what the writer/director intended here, because the material is so hopelessly muddled.

• Chris Barsanti, Film Journal International

  A lushly filmed, fascinating true story about the relationship between a groundbreaking French doctor and his "hysteric" female patient buries itself with a simplistic approach and deadly-dull dialogue.

• Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club

  Its world is small but convincing.

• Tomas Hachard, Slant Magazine

  Alice Winocour's take on this true story carries the superficial trappings of a period drama, but its perspective is entirely contemporary.

• Staci Layne Wilson, StaciWilson.com

  As the plot unfolds, the aim comes undone, leaving the viewer abandoned and wanting.

• Rob Thomas, Capital Times (Madison, WI)

  Writer-director Alice Winocour takes the relationship into some uncomfortable places, and Soko and Lindon both give nuanced performances, with much roiling beneath the surface.

• Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

  A psychological thriller that explores fresh territory in its depiction of sexual politics.

• Harvey S. Karten, Compuserve

  A costume drama with a keen sense of place and time that will appeal particularly to those interested in psychology

Read all 17 critic reviews