L'enfant d'en haut 2012

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: A penetrating study of familial bonds, quietly devastating in parts, beautiful on whole and destined to make you fall in love with a practiced and entirely amoral preteen thief. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: A cool yet compassionate look at two people bound by love and shared struggles in a world of haves and have-nots. Read more

John Anderson, Wall Street Journal: A work of precocious depth by Ursula Meier ("Home"), who's nervy enough to enlist the Alps as a metaphor, and inject a story of family dysfunction with just enough politics to make it a parable. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Klein and Seydoux give such naturalistic performances that they're never overwhelmed by the spectacle. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: In spite of a setting that has characters in need co-existing with chalet-dwellers, Meier resists the temptation to contrast the noble scrappers with the grotesques who have it all. Read more

Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic: "Sister" avoids sentimental indulgence. There's no room for wallowing in this spare, almost ascetic exercise ... Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Movies about wayward kids are a European specialty. The new film "Sister" deepens the specialty. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: [An] absorbing French drama. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: It's a terrific, bracingly sad movie. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: What a beautiful and desperate film. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The influence of Belgian masters Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's documentary eye for youth on the margins is evident in Ursula Meier's calmly heartbreaking drama. Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: The chemistry between the two leads is a razor's-edge dance: feral, childish, tender and always complex. Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: The script turns a little melodramatic, although Meier's tone remains clinical. Read more

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: Meier's tight focus on her primary characters pays off: Seydoux brings a strong array of emotions to a highly unsympathetic part. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Haunting and sad. And absolutely worth seeing. Read more

Jim Emerson, Chicago Sun-Times: The movie takes a refreshingly low-key, observational approach to storytelling ... Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: Seydoux perfectly captures the anger and self-defeat of ill-educated, hedonistic, man-chasing young women who live on the fringes. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: French-born director and co-screenwriter Ursula Meier balances the scenario's bleak, wrenching aspects with a stirring confidence in the redemptive power of love. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: An unusual, involving, slightly strained character study from Ursula Meier, the French director of 2008's satirical dystopia, 'Home'. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Meier is clearly carving out a path all her own; the next one should be a gem. Read more

Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic: Lea Seydoux fulfills Louise, and Kacey Mottet Klein, as Simon, is one more to join the pantheon of film's excellent child actors. Read more

Nick Schager, Village Voice: Writer/director Ursula Meier uses a stripped-down, naturalistic aesthetic full of well-organized compositions that pay close attention to shifts in character mood, comportment, and behavior. Read more