Critic Reviews

• Tom Russo, Boston Globe

  Sometimes, apparently, the old saw about the heart wanting what it wants can apply to seniors precisely the same way it does to the young and foolish.

• Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

  The heart is a riddle, and Cloud 9 deftly, wittily counts the ways.

• Tom Long, Detroit News

  The result is a film in which age matters not at all and yet still matters hugely, and in which love is still a dream come true and an absolute mess.

• Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

  Manages to be vital, wrenching and even humorous yet does not deny the omnipresence of mortality.

• Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

  Mr. Dresen and his actors create an atmosphere of reckless vulnerability that's immediately compelling and artistically intriguing. We want to explore this relationship further.

• V.A. Musetto, New York Post

  Seldom has any movie shown so much geriatric sex and full-frontal nudity (male and female). But, thanks to Dresen, it is all done with taste and sensitivity.

• Dan Lybarger, eFilmCritic.com

  This German entry benefits from a matter-of-fact approach.

• Kam Williams, Sly Fox

  Literally and figuratively blows the sheets off the taboo subject of geriatric sexuality.

• Loey Lockerby, Kansas City Star

  This moral ambivalence is both the movie's strength and its greatest weakness. In virtually every way, Inge's behavior is unconscionable.

• Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

  Dresen shows the events with a matter-of-fact clarity and patience, with a lack of editing or obnoxious musical score; the tone is startlingly quiet.

• Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

  This German melodrama has its share of problems (uncertain tone, unsatisfying closure), but in its many good moments, it offers a honest portrait of sex among the elderly, which is an almost taboo subject in American movies.

• Wade Major, Boxoffice Magazine

  An otherwise routine look at a love triangle is passed with middling success through geriatric and Teutonic filters in this largely improvised drama from veteran German director Andreas Dresen.

• Kam Williams, NewsBlaze

  Literally and figuratively blows the sheets off the taboo subject of geriatric sexuality.

• Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru

  Brave, provocative and deeply poignant with a raw and heartfelt performance by Ursula Werner. It's easily one of the most powerfully emotional films of the year.

• Jay Antani, Cinema Writer

  a sincere, thoughtful tale of the human heart

• Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

  Unrelated to its misleading title of imaginary bliss is an overriding theme about old age offering no surefire recipe for wisdom, or even for much common sense. How's that for depressing?

• Maria Garcia, Film Journal International

  Compelling German drama about a 67-year-old seamstress who is not content to wait out the final part of her life "aging gracefully."

• Nora Lee Mandel, Film-Forward.com

  Dresen's intimate, naturalistic style is key to how absorbing and convincing. . . are relationships exceptional and rare in a film.

• Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

  Explores with emotional intelligence an elderly woman's passionate love affair and the ways it transforms her life.

Read all 19 critic reviews