64
Metascore
22 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinLos Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinIt's the flesh-and-blood lead performance by Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani as a profoundly conflicted Muslim wife and mother that seals this cinematic deal. She's superb.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungThe Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungA luminous central performance from Golshifteh Farahani distinguishes an ambitious if somewhat monotonously wordy adaptation of a prize-winning best-seller.
- 70The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisMr. Rahimi opens up an entire world inside the couple’s modest house, filling its few rooms with enough air, sharp words and slow-boiling intrigue that the walls never feel as if they’re closing in on you.
- 60The DissolveKeith PhippsThe DissolveKeith PhippsFor much of The Patience Stone, Farahani is the movie, and as she shifts from fear to despair to anger to emotions she’d never previously considered, her magnetic presence goes a long way toward putting a human face on the film, more successfully than the material around her.
- 60Time OutDavid FearTime OutDavid FearBetter to think of this as a star vehicle for Farahani, who almost single-handedly carries the film; the range the Iranian actor displays here proves that she’s destined for bigger things. Fans will just have to be patient.
- 60New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierFarahani — seen in “Body of Lies” and “Chicken With Plums” — is equally vibrant in a performance, and a film, that dares us to listen.
- 42The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThere’s only so much anyone can do with a conceit that amounts to a movie-length speech delivered to a coma patient.
- 40Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlVillage VoiceAlan ScherstuhlThe more typical approach transforms the material, and not for the better—rather than a revelation about how it feels to live her life, this feels like a document of what that life might look like as a conventional, often pokey movie.
- 38Slant MagazineJesse CataldoSlant MagazineJesse CataldoWhile Atiq Rahimi's film may peel away the many layers of its female lead like an onion, the end result is still just an onion.