Breathe In
Cohen Media Group | Release Date: March 28, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
5
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranApr 3, 2014
The exquisitely calibrated Breathe In explores such a fraught mutual passion with honesty, intimacy and complete emotional involvement. Read full review
83
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJun 28, 2013
Intimate, expressive, agonizing and beautifully rendered. Read full review
80
Time OutCath ClarkeMar 26, 2014
Swinging it to compelling are irresistible performances from Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeJun 28, 2013
While the plot — too low-key to be called a thriller — points toward obvious extramarital cliches, delicate changes in the overall mood reveal deeper truths. Read full review
80
The GuardianJeremy KayJun 28, 2013
The story of the ingenue who enters the fold and awakens deep feelings is nothing new, but Doremus makes it all utterly captivating. He mines just the right amount of drama and spontaneous comedy from each moment and the foreshadowing is perfectly weighted. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithMar 26, 2014
Top performances by Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones, though, make the film emotionally rich. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedMar 26, 2014
The May-December romance is an overworked genre, but steady hands guide this one with intelligence to a sad but satisfactory conclusion. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMar 26, 2014
Buoyed by some nicely nuanced performances (especially by Pearce and Amy Ryan as his dream-dashing wife), Breathe In never quite rises above its predictable potboiler premise. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen HoldenMar 27, 2014
What distinguishes Breathe In from countless similar movies about marital discontent and disruption is the restraint with which the story is handled, the subtlety of its performances and its almost perverse refusal to turn into a prurient, heavy-breathing examination of adultery and its consequences. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJun 28, 2013
Director Drake Doremus confirms his knack for pinpointing subtle emotional tremors on fragile personal landscapes, even if some too-easy coincidences and pat dramatic moments chip away at the compressed story's credibility. Read full review
67
IndieWireEric KohnMar 26, 2014
To be fair, Breathe In may hit a lot of familiar beats, but none of them are entirely unwelcome. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesBruce IngramMar 27, 2014
Breathe In is all simmer, no boil, despite an abrupt, overwrought, agonizing emotional climax that’s too much, too late. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMar 25, 2014
A romantic melodrama that’s so well-cast and acted and made with such loving care that you could almost forgive how long it takes to get to its obvious conclusion, how melodramatic the whole “sordid” affair is. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMar 27, 2014
For all the obviousness on the surface, and despite some forced last-act havoc, Breathe In works like a piece of chamber music. It goes up to the edge of emotion, circles it, then backs away. But the notes not hit seem as powerful as the ones that are. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternApr 3, 2014
Mr. Doremus is an exceptional director of actors; almost every scene in Breathe In comes alive, with or without the help of music. But the film needs more help than it gets from the script, which turns on facile coincidence and dwindles in originality as it moves toward its climax. Next time around, let's hope this gifted filmmaker hangs his characters' lives on stronger dramatic bones. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleLeba HertzApr 3, 2014
Although Jones and Pearce are interesting when onscreen alone, their chemistry is slightly off. Read full review
50
The DissolveMike D'AngeloMar 25, 2014
At every possible turn, the film chooses to take the dumbest and most reductive path. It remains semi-watchable nonetheless, which is a testament to the skill of its four lead actors, who valiantly struggle to remain truthful. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJul 18, 2013
The whole thing unspools at such an unremittingly earnest pitch that it leaves you groping under your seat for a ventilator. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyMar 27, 2014
The result puts a handful of good actors on autopilot, maneuvering around Intro To Screenwriting character beats, occasionally accompanied by sappy piano music. Read full review
30
Village VoiceSherilyn ConnellyMar 25, 2014
Drake Doremus's Breathe In is a star-crossed romance where your enjoyment level will depend on your tolerance for what feels an awful lot like potential statutory rape. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineDavid Lee DallasMar 24, 2014
Seemingly high-brow because it's so low-key, but underneath that veneer is an inert, thinly plotted melodrama premised on trite characterizations that would be offensive if they weren't so absurd. Read full review
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