Critic Reviews

• Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

  Exploring female desire in a way films rarely do, Heading South is a film of sometimes subtle, sometimes blunt metaphors for the interaction of rich and pauperized countries.

• Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

  The regal Rampling has never been finer, and Cesar makes his character surprisingly proud and sympathetic.

• Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

  The film offers something unusual, a tragic spectacle of normal, recognizable and utterly sympathetic people condemning themselves.

• Tom Keogh, Seattle Times

  An unsettling drama by the director of two other remarkable films about class illusions, Human Resources and Time Out.

• Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic

  The movie avoids devolving into polemic by treating its characters as individuals.

• Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

  In its way, the film is a piercing indictment, though it makes its point without much screaming, hectoring or preening. It's quietly terrific.

• Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion

  Displays an almost Fassbinder-like sensitivity to emotional shifts in power

• Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

  A trio of middle-aged white women from different backgrounds relish the tropical pleasures of '70s era Haiti, which includes local teenage gigolos, in writer/director Laurent Cantet's problematic filmic adaptation of three short stories by Dany Laferriere

• Robert Davis, Paste Magazine

  What Heading South says through careful omission or brief allusion is often more interesting than what it says on the clunky surface.

• Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

  Erotic drama that probes lust, a police state and exploitation in the idyllic sunny climes of Haiti.

• Beth Accomando, KPBS.org

  It also boasts another rich performance by Charlotte Rampling who continues to grow more interesting as an actress.

• Enrique Buchichio, Uruguay Total

  Una película lúcida y algo desconcertante sobre los deseos y fantasías de un trío de mujeres en vacaciones, con el trasfondo de la dura realidad haitiana del régimen de Duvalier.

• Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal International

  The film triumphs as a prism for intimate, personal truths.

• Kam Williams, EURWeb

  This fascinating flick, using physical desire as a metaphor, examines political problems plaguing Haiti in the Seventies while simultaneously exploring pleasure purely from an older woman's point-of-view.

• Kam Williams, NewsBlaze

  This fascinating flick, using physical desire as a metaphor, examines political problems plaguing Haiti in the Seventies while simultaneously exploring pleasure purely from an older woman's point-of-view.

• Don Willmott, Filmcritic.com

  an intense experience

• Ryan Cracknell, Calgary Movies

  Strong performances help balance out a sometimes slow moving plot in this serious drama. There's not a lot of extras on the DVD but the film itself is worth a gander.

• David Cornelius, DVDTalk.com

  While an important message is at the movie's core, Cantet just can't find a way to make us care.

• Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile

  Hot sex in the Haitian sun is the main thrust of Laurent Cantet's Heading South, but melancholy and loneliness are the film's key emotions.

• Duane Dudek, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

  ... a shot of reality disguised as an umbrella drink, and is as uncomfortable an experience as having sand stuck in your swimming suit.

Read all 20 critic reviews