Emile (2003)

Critic Reviews

• Scott Foundas, Variety

  A routine memory piece about long-buried family secrets that bubble back to the surface to wreak havoc.

• Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

  Confusing the profound with the pretentious, director Bessai packs the story with elliptical, ominous flashbacks that undercut all the advances he makes with the contemporary tale.

• V.A. Musetto, New York Post

  Tenderly touches our emotions.

• Stephen Holden, New York Times

  Sir Ian McKellen is at his tweediest and most persnickety as the title character in Emile, the portrait of an eminent scientist who returns from England to his homeland, Canada, to receive an honorary degree from the University of Victoria.

• David Blaylock, Village Voice

  It's appropriate that the director calls this the final chapter in a trilogy about struggling with one's identity -- he shows none of his own while mishandling someone else's.

• Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

  At heart a reverie, a meditation on the past and its treacheries, the ways in which people become flawed, and the eternal though often elusive possibility of forgiveness and redemption.

• Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide

  Sensitively played but ultimately undone by its unconventional approach.

• David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor

  Poignant and well acted, though not very memorable.

• Timothy Knight, Reel.com

  It's ultimately more simplistic and contrived than provocative.

• , E! Online

  While this dreamily photographed piece contains fine performances by all, it loses its way as it lingers too long in the past and moves too slowly in the present.

• Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine

  McKellen and Unger do a wonderful trudging through the dirt (and, finally, cheese), Emile never quite gets off the ground.

• Joe Utichi, FilmFocus

  An honest and intelligent look into real relationships, impressively original in its execution and breathtakingly remarkable in its delivery.

• Anton Bitel, Movie Gazette

  a film of tender hues, quiet intensity and elegiac melancholy that you may well find lingering in your own memory.

• David Hughes, Empire Magazine

  Technical shortcomings aside this is a good story well told, elevated by McKellen on top form.

• Jamie Russell, BBC

  Reminds us that Sir Ian McKellen is used to playing more complex characters than Gandalf or Magneto.

• Ashley Cooper, Film Threat

  A small but excellent cast supports McKellen in what is a beautiful and intelligent film.

• Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

  Beautifully filmed and edited by Bessai to take us into the mind of a man who has made too many life-changing decisions.

Read all 17 critic reviews