Being 17
Strand Releasing | Release Date: October 7, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyAug 15, 2016
An ultra-naturalistic slice of rocky adolescent life that combines violence and sensuality, wrenching loss and tender discovery. Read full review
100
VarietyPeter DebrugeAug 15, 2016
This vibrant portrait feels like something of a revelation, which is remarkable, really, considering how many more films have tackled coming-of-age than the relatively niche experience of coming out. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangOct 13, 2016
If the film has a governing principle, it’s that love doesn’t take root in a vacuum, and its path is never perfectly straight. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen HoldenOct 6, 2016
The movie is not really about deciding whether you’re gay or straight — those terms are never spoken. It’s about the chemistry of two people at a moment in time. Read full review
90
Screen DailyJonathan RomneyAug 15, 2016
Co-scripted by Céline Sciamma, director of Water Lilies and Girlhood, Being 17 manifestly benefits from her insight into the problems of young people searching for their social and sexual identities; this, combined with Téchiné’s controlled vision and superb direction of actors, makes the new film a quietly potent proposition. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerNov 17, 2016
Age in Being 17 comes in awkward bursts, and yet the film moves sublimely. Director Téchiné, 73 years old, is wise beyond his years. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniNov 10, 2016
A richly observed coming-of-age drama about two teenage boys who are drawn to each other with a complicated mix of attraction, repulsion, tenderness, and aggression. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyOct 7, 2016
This isn’t a film that makes a big deal of its contemporary authenticity; it wears its carefully measured elements lightly, the better to shine a light on its intriguing characters. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineDiego SemereneOct 2, 2016
André Téchiné does justice to the closeness between repulsion and desire, difference and sameness, heterosexuality and homosexuality. Read full review
85
TheWrapDave WhiteOct 5, 2016
Téchiné intuitively favors movement over chatter, and he directs his young actors toward intimate, yearning performances. Read full review
80
CineVueHarriet WarmanAug 15, 2016
Being 17's great strength is the two utterly engrossing performances given by its leads and their exhilarating chemistry is conveyed with equal sensitivity during their tussles, as it is in every small glance and gesture. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyOct 6, 2016
Téchiné has made one of his simplest and most elemental films, which is both Being 17’s most arresting feature and its weakness. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichOct 6, 2016
The film’s hyper-naturalism is its raison d’etre, and Being 17 is at its best when it leans into that approach. Read full review
63
Washington PostAlan ZilbermanNov 10, 2016
What elevates the film is not just its beautiful setting in the French Pyrenees but also how the beautiful mountain exteriors serve as a metaphor for characters’ inner lives. Téchiné keeps his distance from his subjects, allowing their emotions to reveal themselves and delivering a payoff that is ultimately a delicate one. Read full review
63
Boston GlobePeter KeoughOct 27, 2016
The performances are meticulous and passionate, the narrative low-key and obliquely sensitive enough to conceal, until the traumatic incidents keep piling up, the film’s contrivance. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 27, 2016
The result is a beautiful void, a structureless emptiness buoyed by some good scenes and performances. Read full review
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