Critic Reviews

• Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

  A wispy picture, likeable certainly but lacking in crispness and clarity.

• Linda Barnard, Toronto Star

  Assayas captures a season in the lives of a group that envisioned themselves as bearers of truth ...

• Dave Calhoun, Time Out

  Free of nostalgia and not overly critical in hindsight, it captures the immediacy of youth in hugely endearing fashion.

• Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

  Every kid believes the world around him is changing in ways it hasn't before; for these kids, it really was. Or had.

• J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

  The pretty actors and counterculture nostalgia kept reminding me of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers. This is a much better film, infused with Assayas's characteristic love for the freshness of nature and the eagerness of youth.

• Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

  Worth seeing for what it says of the turbulent state of France in the early 1970s, when Mr. Assayas was a high-school student in Paris ...

• Graham Young, Birmingham Mail

  So brilliantly directed, you'll feel like you are really there.

• Chris Barsanti, PopMatters

  Revolution is less an action with direct purpose than a way of life in Olivier Assayas' heady, conflicted ode to the anarchic spirit of May 1968.

• Philip French, Observer [UK]

  Something in the Air is not a film for all tastes, but it brings back a crucial part of the last century, touches on experiences we've all had at some time and is performed with delicacy, sincerity and conviction by a splendid young cast.

• Jay Stone, Canada.com

  Assayas films it with a kinetic camera that follows his young protagonists through halls and stairways as they look for themselves. It's an assured film about rocky beginnings.

• Rich Cline, Contactmusic.com

  This sharply well-made French drama tackles an offbeat chapter in history with real skill, although the densely populated screenplay and fragmented approach to storytelling makes it difficult to engage with.

• Rebecca Davies, Film4

  What ultimately makes this film stand out is the way it captures the painful dawning experienced by all human beings that neither youth - nor you - are eternal.

• Allan Hunter, Daily Express

  It treats the characters with respect and a tender regard for an idealism that maturity seems unlikely to sustain.

• Charlotte O'Sullivan, This is London

  A coming-of-age drama which boasts delicious camerawork, a perfect soundtrack and fascinating insights into the importance of cinema. It's desultory to a fault.

• Antonia Quirke, Financial Times

  The hectic theories that have spiritual and erotic dominion over these young people and compel an elaborate network of secret meetings feel astonishingly inert.

• , Daily Telegraph

  The tumbling, seemingly aimless narrative ... gives it the unmistakable feel of what the French call a film à clef.

• Wally Hammond, Little White Lies

  This might just be Assayas' masterpiece.

• Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]

  The ideas get lost in the nostalgic, elegaic glow, but that glow is nurtured expertly.

• Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

  It's essentially a series of black-out scenes tracing the lives of young activists who grow and change before our eyes. And while filmmaker Assayas and his fine cast convey that beautifully, they never properly engage us.

• Matthew Turner, ViewLondon

  A nostalgic and thought-provoking coming-of-age drama with a terrific soundtrack to boot, though some may find the relative lack of plot frustrating.

Read all 22 critic reviews