Critic Reviews

• Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

  It's not easy to classify Maximilian Schell's occasionally clumsy but always touching tribute to his actress sister, and it's equally difficult not to be moved by it.

• G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle

  It is meant to be a loving and sad portrait of a fading life, but it feels intrusive, excessively brooding and narcissistic.

• Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

  Bbrave, heartless, and exceedingly strange.

• Desson Thomson, Washington Post

  Aa heartfelt but eccentric, pseudo-documentary.

• Janice Page, Boston Globe

  Maximilian's narcissistic examination of his theatrical family -- to the degree that he shows us photos of ancestors even he doesn't know -- can be boring, and his creative license with the truth is kind of troubling.

• Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

  A thoughtful look backward, a summing up that attempts to understand what is ephemeral and what truly lasts, what it is that matters in the final analysis.

• Phil Hall, Film Threat

  Fascinating documentary on the celebrated Austrian actress.

• MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher

  [A] feat of mystery and complexity against which all filmed portraits must now be measured...

• William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

  It's unpleasantly bitter (Maximilian had to sell his art collection to keep her out of the poorhouse and he's not happy about it), rather ghoulish, supremely depressing and, considering her condition, a criminal invasion of the woman's privacy.

• Jean Lowerison, San Diego Metropolitan

  It's difficult to witness the disintegration of a personality; unfortunately, watching My Sister Maria inspires the question, 'Why was this film made?'

• David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune

  My Sister Maria is a strange bouquet, a sort of pre-memorial.

• Paul Sherman, Boston Herald

  Feels less like a tribute and more like a chance for Maximilian to play the caring savior.

• Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly

  As tense and fractured, as alienating -- and, finally, touching -- a work as it undoubtedly ought to be.

Read all 13 critic reviews