About Elly (2009)
Cinema Guild | Release Date: April 8, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
87
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinApr 10, 2015
It’s breezy, then suspenseful, and gradually, crushingly sad. On its own terms, it’s a perfect film. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireApr 9, 2015
Farhadi’s orchestration of all these elements is complex and viscerally kinetic; few viewers will experience it without holding their breath at some point. Read full review
100
SalonAndrew O'HehirApr 9, 2015
As with the Antonioni film that Farhadi has so ingeniously turned to his purposes, you shouldn’t go see About Elly hoping for a Hitchcock-style thriller that will answer all your narrative questions. But if “L’Avventura” is a deliberately frustrating portrait of European postwar anomie and a study in abstract, black-and-white composition, About Elly is more dynamic and more realistic. Read full review
100
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeApr 9, 2015
About Elly shows that the ethical dilemmas of ordinary adults can, with this level of talent, become as gripping as any thriller. Read full review
100
The New York TimesStephen HoldenApr 7, 2015
About Elly is gorgeous to look at. The ever-changing sky and sea lend it a moodiness so palpable that the climate itself seems a major character dictating the course of events; the weather rules. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Apr 7, 2015
This is clearly the work of a master in the making, an artist on the cusp of greatness. Farhadi may be fixated on fibbers, but there’s almost no one working today who makes films so emotionally honest. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranMay 7, 2015
Emotional intensity is Farhadi's métier, and to see About Elly is to revel in his skill. Read full review
90
NPRBob MondelloApr 8, 2015
About Elly, a thriller perched right on the fault line between modern thinking and Islamic tradition. Read full review
90
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlApr 7, 2015
This superb, suspenseful film, completed in 2009, opens as a playful comedy of vacationing couples and awkward romance, one that might be set in the French countryside, but by the end has become a moral drama likely to corrode your certainties. Read full review
90
The DissolveScott TobiasApr 7, 2015
It’s a richly imagined drama that gives everyone involved a specific and understandable set of motives for acting the way they do. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungNov 21, 2014
A taut, involving drama centered around the mysterious disappearance of a young woman, About Elly confirms director Asghar Farhadi as a major talent in Iranian cinema whose ability to chronicle the middle-class malaise of his society is practically unrivaled. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniMay 8, 2015
Always, murmuring just beneath the surface, there's a political undercurrent to Farhadi's films, a gentle whisper of a critique aimed at the weight of Iran's combined cultural and political intransigence. Read full review
88
Boston GlobePeter KeoughMay 7, 2015
A 2009 film only now getting theatrical distribution in the United States, it is perhaps Farhadi’s richest, most complex and ambitious. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezApr 30, 2015
Like "A Separation," which used the story of a dissolving marriage to illustrate the unexpected consequences of a rigid, inflexible society, About Elly turns what starts out as a breezy comedy into an engaging and substantial exploration of human nature and how sometimes, without intending to, we hurt the ones we love most — including ourselves. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineChuck BowenApr 6, 2015
Asghar Farhadi's sensibility embodies a combination of empathy and paranoia that's striking considering that the latter is normally driven by self-absorption. Read full review
83
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezApr 14, 2015
While perhaps not perfect by Farhadi’s standards, About Elly is a classic tragedy that can be devastating and draining, and in that sense is an immersive, almost emotionally exhaustive experience. Read full review
80
Little White LiesPhil ConcannonFeb 17, 2023
Farhadi never misses a beat, taking his tale into increasingly gripping territory. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanApr 9, 2015
About Elly is remarkable for both its universal observations about human nature and its specifics. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony LaneApr 6, 2015
About Elly both clutches us tight and shuts us out, adding wave upon wave of secrets and lies. Read full review
80
VarietyAlissa SimonNov 21, 2014
While not equaling the depth of characterization of Farhadi’s previous films, About Elly takes the complexity of his storytelling to a fascinating level. However, the variable quality of the thesping also prevents the pic from being his best work. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawNov 21, 2014
About Elly confirms Farhadi's shrewd judgment of pace, dramatic technique and formal control of an ensemble cast. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinNov 21, 2014
Farhadi’s films are like moral whodunits, and as Sepideh and her friends gradually unearth the truth, he expertly buffets our sympathies in all directions until the very last shot. Read full review
80
Total FilmPhilip KempNov 21, 2014
Another shrewdly gauged study of our capacity for deception and self-deception from A Separation’s auteur. Emotionally devastating. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoMay 21, 2015
Both as writer and director, Farhadi is skilled at depicting the spiraling growth of social malignancies, as duplicity and uncertainties beget confusion, fear and anger. It’s an incisive portrait of a particular society, but it should resonate everywhere. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayMay 7, 2015
The performances are consistently first-rate from a cast of appealing actors who slip effortlessly into Farhadi’s naturalistic aesthetic scheme, which seems utterly unforced even at its most intricately staged. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 7, 2015
Uncommonly good ensemble storytelling. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerApr 10, 2015
The dense interweave of relationships, a Farhadi specialty, is continually compelling. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid ParkinsonNov 21, 2014
Farhadi’s gifted storytelling and direction is on show again in a damning look at Iranian society. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonDave CalhounNov 21, 2014
The writing and direction lean towards the obvious, but there’s much to chew on regarding tradition, progress and the power of the white lie. Read full review
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