Certain Women
IFC Films | Release Date: October 14, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
34
Mixed:
3
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorMay 25, 2017
Stewart does an intriguing job creating a paradoxical character who explains herself without giving of herself, her very persona exposing the false promise of personal exposition. Read full review
100
Washington PostAnn HornadayOct 20, 2016
You know a filmmaker is in supreme command of her medium when what she creates feels less like a movie than a candid glimpse of ongoing lives that will continue to play out long after the lights have come on. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonOct 13, 2016
The characters are really minimalist masterpieces, sculpted, polished and uncompromisingly female. Read full review
100
Village VoiceApril WolfeOct 13, 2016
Certain Women is a kind, loving, and deeply moving portrait of bighearted small-town people. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangOct 13, 2016
Reichardt has never been one to reduce her characters to an easy emotional or dramatic equation, and here the everyday challenge of being female in a male-dominated profession is just one element on an extraordinarily fine-grained human canvas. Read full review
100
Screen DailyAnthony KaufmanJan 26, 2016
Reichardt has crafted another deeply felt and beautifully ambiguous meditation on contemporary life in the far corners of the American heartland. Read full review
100
VarietyGuy LodgeJan 26, 2016
As with Reichardt’s more streamlined miniatures, regional detail accounts for much of the film’s lingering resonance, as her characters are molded by (and, in some cases, rail against) the landscape they inhabit. Read full review
91
The PlaylistNoel MurrayJan 26, 2016
Though Certain Women is difficult, it’s hardly obtuse. And for those willing to trust that Reichardt is in full command of this material, “Certain Women” is utterly enthralling. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniOct 27, 2016
Set against the backdrop of Montana's stunning wilderness, Certain Women portrays women at work and women in desire with the quiet confidence, simplicity, and directness of a true artist. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldOct 20, 2016
On this wintry landscape, with its endless plains and biting wind, it seems as if everyone — even the quietest — has a story, if you take the time to listen to it. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 20, 2016
Is Kelly Reichardt the most under-acknowledged great director working in America right now? Her new movie, Certain Women, is one of the glories of this or any other year, but it stays true to Reichardt form, which is to say it’s low-key, allusive, lit up with implied meanings without ever leading us by the hand. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 20, 2016
They're lifelike, I suppose, in that you believe and become invested in what happens to everyone. But they're poetic, too, in that Reichardt and her first-rate ensemble find intersections of the mundane and the mysterious all around this broad, blustery landscape. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 14, 2016
Kelly Reichardt makes films that unfold at the speed of life, not Hollywood. She's a poet of the space between words, and the hypnotic and haunting Certain Women presents the writer-director at her artfully attentive best. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoOct 14, 2016
It is purposefully slow, a film meant to be lived in and considered carefully when it’s done. Almost none of it feels as “important” as my teacher explained and yet it is still great drama. Read full review
88
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJan 27, 2016
Certain Women gives us female characters who are smart and complicated and funny and imperfect, and it never hand-delivers a message regarding what we’re supposed to think about them. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Oct 12, 2016
Like a lot of really strong short story collections, Certain Women is greater than the sum of its parts, even if one of those parts is also significantly greater than the others. Read full review
83
The Film StageJordan RaupJan 26, 2016
There are no grand revelations or heightened emotions to be found in this film. Rather, Reichardt is keenly aware of small interactions, whether it be a few words or a glance, that make the most memorable moments in one’s life Read full review
80
Total FilmJamie GrahamMar 6, 2017
Certain Women won’t challenge Transformers 5 at the box office, but it’s a deeply affecting triumph. Read full review
80
EmpireLiz BeardsworthFeb 20, 2017
A languid, leisurely paced drama. Not much happens, but Reichardt’s light touch and the performances of the leads make it soar. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOct 20, 2016
The acting is good throughout the film, but Gladstone and Stewart are a step up from everyone else. It’s tempting to say it could have been a feature all on its own, but as it stands it’s nearly perfect, making an already solid Certain Women that much better. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinOct 14, 2016
Certain Women turns out to be a study in women’s uncertainties, in the experience of pain that leads not to action but acceptance. It’s a slow go — but you get there. Read full review
80
SlateDana StevensOct 14, 2016
Her (Reichardt's) juxtaposition of imponderably vast landscapes and regular-scale individual lives is what gives Certain Women its mood at once of delicate restraint and of moral gravity. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Oct 12, 2016
Director Kelly Reichardt, who made the great "Wendy and Lucy," likes stories that unfold slowly and simply. Sometimes she'll just let the camera run, making us watch the awkwardness of people who can't connect. Read full review
80
We Got This CoveredLauren Humphries-BrooksOct 4, 2016
Certain Women more than justifies itself as a serious argument for the beauty of the small and intimate drama and the importance of female-driven filmmaking. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonSep 17, 2016
Certain Women moves, as all Reichardt’s films do, at a languid pace, and a handful of characters – notably Williams’s – could have been a little more developed. But it's hard to recall a movie with such a precise, immersive sense of place, and the very specific mood that comes with it. Read full review
80
CineVueBen NicholsonSep 11, 2016
Certain Women is a deft masterclass in humane open-ended observation, crafting subtle portraits of three Montana women overlooked and hardy in their own individual ways. Read full review
80
The GuardianNigel M SmithJan 26, 2016
Like Reichardt’s directorial hand, the performances are understated across the board, but deeply felt. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenOct 26, 2016
The subtlety and restraint in the way Reichardt links the vignettes is also commendable. It’s as if she’s reminding us that we’re all part of the grander scheme of things but at the same time disconnected from one another. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonOct 27, 2016
Certain Women requires patience from the viewer and isn’t for anyone, but it’s a film of quiet and lingering beauty. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesMiriam Di NunzioOct 20, 2016
If there’s one thing you can count on from indie filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, it’s a keen and unwavering ability to bring the viewer into the world of the outsider as few other filmmakers can. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineJaime N. ChristleySep 28, 2016
The threat of feeling slighted links every small and large ripple of drama in Kelly Reichardt's film. Read full review
75
ConsequenceMichael RoffmanJan 26, 2016
It’s an ode to this country’s oft-forgotten middle, where the struggle is, indeed, very real. As such, Certain Women is not always thrilling, but it’s certainly faithful. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottOct 13, 2016
The subtlety of the film is both an accomplishment and a limitation. It’s hard not to want more for these women, and to wish you could see more of them. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinJan 26, 2016
While there’s no doubt this is the work of a filmmaker entirely in command of her craft, there’s something a trifle academic and dry about the whole exercise, and slightly lacking in narrative cohesion given the nature of its origins. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyOct 19, 2016
It isn’t until the wonderful Gladstone comes along with her aching tomboy heartache and sad seeking eyes that the film finally burrows below the surface and finally hits a dramatic nerve. Unfortunately, by then, it’s too little too late. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 10, 2018
Reichardt’s serene, slow style means that even the big incidents in these stories pack no punch. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 20, 2016
We end up with a movie in which it becomes very possible to respect the intent and yet be frustrated by the result. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedOct 12, 2016
Comprising three separate, unrelated and thoroughly inconsequential short stories about lonely, miserable women in the isolated landscape of Montana, Certain Women is the latest thumping bore from Kelly Reichardt, a writer-director-editor who makes bland, low-budget films about various hidden aspects of women’s lives they are reluctant to reveal, then take forever to do so. Read full review
More From This Movie

82 Critic Reviews

6.1 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL