62
Metascore
28 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganScreen DailyFionnuala HalliganThe Children Act is a cerebral piece, for sure, and a disturbing one by the end, but Thompson’s performance brings life to the complex moral questions it attempts to examine.
- 80VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeThe Children Act is that rarest of things: an adult drama, written and interpreted with a sensitivity to mature human concerns.
- 80CineVueLucy PopescuCineVueLucy PopescuThe Children Act brilliantly recreates the measured mind and language of a judge. But McEwan and Eyre are also interested in conveying the tumultuous emotional currents that operate below the surface in a person – often unrecognised until it is too late.
- 75IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichNo matter how iffy the story gets, or how clinical Eyre’s direction becomes, Thompson makes it absolutely heartrending to watch Fiona’s veneer crack one line at a time.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattEntertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattEven the cast’s uniform excellence can’t quite crack Children’s outer carapace, or bring full life to Fiona’s emotional struggle as she’s forced to confront her own failings. Instead the story drifts iceberg-like toward its carefully muted conclusion, only a small part of its true scope visible above a beautiful, chilly surface.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberThe Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberThe two central performances could hardly be better.
- 60The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThe Children Act is concerned with love, intimacy and moral responsibility and it is refreshing to see a movie which sets itself standards of this sort. But there is also something a little too neat in the way all these things are wrapped up. Emma Thompson’s performance, so elegant and vulnerable, carries the picture.
- 50TheWrapAlonso DuraldeTheWrapAlonso DuraldeIf Emma Thompson can’t make The Children Act...into something interesting and meaningful, then no one can. And she can’t.