71
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganScreen DailyFionnuala HalliganA significant, ambitious and entirely impressive film by a dazzling young French director in full command of her ship.
- 90VarietyGuy LodgeVarietyGuy LodgeAn unostentatious but quietly dazzling meditation on womanhood in the largely patriarchal space race, Alice Winocour’s highly satisfying third feature outdoes many more lavish Hollywood efforts in evoking the otherworldly emotional disconnect that comes with space travel, all without leaving terra firma for the vast bulk of its running time.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerThe Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerThis superbly crafted yet intimate family drama is so realistic in terms of its setting and technical specificity, it sometimes feels like a documentary. ... It’s perhaps a tad deliberate in spots, hitting its central theme too heavily on the nose, but Proxima pulls off an impressive balancing act between the personal and the astronomical.
- 80EmpireEmpireAnother Glum Space Mum, but one who feels complex and real. While the film depicts extraordinary circumstances, it always keeps the hearts (and heads) of its mother and daughter in focus.
- 80CineVueCineVueIt’s a fiery mix of ambition, mother-daughter love, female empowerment and childhood dreams – the gravities of each masterfully held together in the film, like planets in the canvas of space, revolving harmoniously around the sun.
- 80Time OutSophie Monks KaufmanTime OutSophie Monks KaufmanWinocour does brilliant work at enlarging the minute details that define the way the wind is blowing in this relationship.
- 75The Film StageJared MobarakThe Film StageJared MobarakThis is a very quiet and contemplative film driven by characters above plot.
- 60Film ThreatAndy HowellFilm ThreatAndy HowellIt is that kind of “inside the life of an astronaut” angle that keeps the film reasonably engaging, even if you don’t care too much about the characters.
- 58The PlaylistElla KempThe PlaylistElla KempA film that takes so much care to spend time on a different perspective—on the woman juggling ambition and love without sacrifice—feels vital. At the same time, during the restrained and contemplative journey that precedes liftoff, “Proxima” often feels like it is waiting for a more devastating threat – you can do all the preparation in the world, and it still won’t prevent the fallout of the big leap when it happens.
- 50Slant MagazineJake ColeSlant MagazineJake ColeThe film falls back on a reductive rumination on the balance between maternal obligation and career aspiration.