A Tale of Love and Darkness
Focus World | Release Date: August 19, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
12
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversSep 1, 2016
It's important to note what Portman the filmmaker is doing here. She is most assuredly not providing CliffsNotes to Oz's book, letting us see what Amos sees and only partially understands. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAug 31, 2016
It’s a pleasure to watch, if not always to sit through. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaAug 26, 2016
A Tale of Love and Darkness loses itself in dreamy imagery, in its studiously crafted aesthetic. But there are times when Portman lets the toughness, the tenacity, the emotional heart of Oz's story shine through. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzAug 25, 2016
The Israeli author’s melancholy work might on the surface be an odd choice for Portman, but as writer, director and star, she takes to it with a fierce sense of devotion and even protection, creating a Hebrew-language drama about the tight, complex bond between a mother (Portman) and her son (Amir Tessler). Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 25, 2016
A Tale of Love and Darkness is a dead film, an eminently worthy corpse. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 25, 2016
She (Portman) has filmed the book according to its emotional meaning to her, and that’s fine. What she hasn’t done is whip it into shape as a compelling movie. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBill ZweckerAug 25, 2016
While A Tale of Love and Darkness is often difficult to watch — because of all the sadness it presents — it is also a beautiful film in that it makes us think about existing in a world where we do not completely fit in. Read full review
37
Washington PostVanessa H. LarsonAug 25, 2016
Unfortunately, darkness seems to have prevailed over love in a tale that falls flat. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 25, 2016
It is all very respectful, all very serious, all very important-feeling and often a little dull. As such, it’s a good start for Portman, with promise of better things to come. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernAug 24, 2016
Portman’s evocation of this world has a strange, captivating pull. Assisted by the great Polish cinematographer Slawomir Idziak (Gattaca, Black Hawk Down, The Double Life of Veronique), she has created a visual landscape filled with nightmares. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaAug 19, 2016
All it takes is one breathtaking shot near the conclusion of A Tale of Love and Darkness, when the aged Amos stares helplessly at his troubled mother through a pane of glass coated with teary rivulets of rain, to know Portman has an artistic vision worth sharing and developing. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerAug 19, 2016
It doesn’t help that most of the film is shot in a thick gray-green overlay that sets an immediate tone of abject dreariness. I’m not implying that Portman should have included high-kicking musical numbers to lighten the mood, but there is a Jewish tradition of mining the black comedy in tragedy that the film would have done well to avail itself of. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineOleg IvanovAug 18, 2016
The film mostly succeeds in capturing the nuances of an event that continues to arouse passionate debate to this day. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranAug 18, 2016
Actors gravitate toward passion projects, films they care deeply, even obsessively about, but the end result is hardly ever as convincing as A Tale of Love and Darkness a film of beautiful melancholy. Read full review
38
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeAug 18, 2016
The movie’s strength is, surprisingly, the narration, spoken with gentle gravity by Moni Moshonov. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottAug 18, 2016
There are many lovely and memorable moments in this film, which is in every way the opposite of a vanity project. If anything, Ms. Portman seems constrained by her own modesty, by a justified but nonetheless limiting reverence for her source material. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloAug 17, 2016
Portman’s emotional connection to the material couldn’t be more obvious, yet the film itself is still largely inert. Read full review
45
TheWrapClaudia PuigAug 17, 2016
A Tale of Love and Darkness seeks to blend serious political history and probing psychological analysis. The effort does not succeed, coming across disjointed and grim. Read full review
60
CineVueBen NicholsonSep 16, 2015
There are undoubtedly kinks to iron out - the film has a particular problem with pacing during a section that requires careful handling - but this is a handsome and assured feature and certainly suggests a bright future behind the camera for Portman, who also stars. Read full review
42
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthSep 10, 2015
Portman wants to articulate something beyond the ordinary, and while she hasn’t found it in this picture, perhaps there are lessons here to be learned before she mounts her next effort. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeMay 22, 2015
[Portman's] drearily empathetic film lacks whatever universality has made “Tale” such an international phenomenon. Read full review
60
The GuardianAndrew PulverMay 22, 2015
Portman has made a film with something serious and interesting to say about Israel, a nuanced portrait of the place that demonstrates a commitment to, and connection with, her home country. This is an assured, heartfelt debut. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungMay 22, 2015
Writer and director Portman's film seems conflicted over whether it is about young Amos or his mother, whom she portrays as a beautiful, cultured woman with a head full of romantic fantasies. Read full review
50
IndieWireEric KohnMay 22, 2015
Portman's screenplay shortchanges the dramatic potential of the material in favor of a by-the-numbers period piece. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonMay 22, 2015
An overly self-conscious somberness infuses the film, keeping this heartrending tale from being as poignant as it could be. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 22, 2015
The film feels like a personal project for Portman, but thankfully never a vanity one. It’s a fine piece of work – and you sense there’s better to come. Read full review
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