Ema
Music Box Films | Release Date: August 13, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
CineVueTom DugginsApr 30, 2020
Brilliantly acted, shot with precision and style, this is a deconstruction of the ‘nuclear family’ that cries out for a second or third viewing. Read full review
91
The PlaylistRobert DanielsSep 10, 2019
Larraín’s Ema will grate some. Even so, it’s one of the most ambitious and visually stunning films of the year. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfAug 18, 2021
Ema is a vibrantly loud movie, propelled by dance and lust, and a celebration of sexuality like no other film before it. It is a fountain of energy, both bewitching and terrifying all at once. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineJake ColeSep 8, 2019
In the film, the literal union of bodies is the only logical means of conveying the reestablishment of emotional bonds. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 9, 2019
Ema doesn’t always dance to a clear or recognizable beat, but anybody willing to get on its wavelength will be rewarded with one of the year’s most dynamic and electrifying films. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshAug 16, 2021
Larraín crafts a mesmerizing cinematic rhythm that alternates between montage and slow camera movements; the film’s push-pull tempo mimics that of Ema’s own intimate machinations. Read full review
80
EmpireElla KempApr 24, 2020
Following Jackie, Pablo Larraín offers another powerful examination of grief, capturing all of the confusing and fascinating layers of human relationships. Despite the heavy subject matter, it’s intoxicating. Read full review
80
Time OutPhil de SemlyenSep 13, 2019
It's the exuberant yin to the stately yang of Jackie Kennedy biopic Jackie, Larrain’s last film, and it’s full of the pheromones of sexual discovery and the piss and vinegar of toxic relationships. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangSep 12, 2019
Like some of the more memorable films at Toronto this year, Ema leaves you wondering what exactly you just saw, and hoping it won’t be too long before you see it again. Read full review
80
TheWrapBen CrollSep 9, 2019
Larraín’s odd little film dances to the beat of its own drum, that’s for certain. But it does pay off in a wholly satisfying way. Read full review
80
The GuardianXan BrooksSep 9, 2019
While I confess that I found Ema to be a notch down on his best work, it’s still hugely distinctive and daring and may well be a grower. Read full review
78
Vanity FairCassie da CostaAug 17, 2021
What saves Larraín’s film from perfunctorily treading well-worn ground is that he appears to be more intently interested in queer myth-making, collective refusal, and fantastical plotting. Read full review
78
Paste MagazineDom SinacolaAug 10, 2021
Ostensibly, Ema revels in the pulling down of walls, insistent on stripping away the artifice of civility and systemic conservatism. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoAug 13, 2021
While Larraín has an undeniably strong eye, this film completely collapses without a believable performer in the title role, one who can sell both regret and passion, sometimes in the same dance move. Di Girolamo never takes a false step. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeAug 11, 2021
Under the weight of Larraín’s visual style, the emptiness at the center of Ema’s character nearly collapses the film, before a gobsmacking ending reveals her true motivations. Read full review
75
The Film StageRory O'ConnorSep 11, 2019
Ema is Larraín at his most freeform. Read full review
70
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisAug 12, 2021
Whether a melodramatic comment on art and anarchy, or a wild experiment in toxic maternalism, the film feels like a fever that just won’t break. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanSep 9, 2019
What’s novel about Ema is that Pablo Larraín has made a movie that, in its form, is every bit as warped and jagged and jarring and difficult to cuddle up to as its heroine. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanAug 18, 2021
Di Girólamo delivers a performance that is, like the combustible fuel inside the tank strapped to her back here and there throughout the film, intense, hot, destructive — and hard to look away from. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 4, 2020
It’s a study in anger and emotional hurt that feels like a work in progress, an unfinished script the director has put before the camera before its complete development. Yet it is absorbing and challenging, as everything from this film-maker always is. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeMay 4, 2020
The film is all about the chase: it’s an aggressive seduction that teases with bold visual statements, with flesh and flame throwers. But does it satisfy? Not on any deep emotional level, certainly. Read full review
60
Screen DailyJonathan RomneySep 9, 2019
At once a visually expressionistic hymn to female agency and liberation, a psychological thriller that always stays one step ahead of the viewer and a flamboyant reggaeton dance musical, Ema will strike some as a heady celebration of a movie, while leaving others bemused by stylistics that sometimes overpower narrative and psychological plausibility. Read full review
60
CineVueJohn BleasdaleSep 9, 2019
There’s so much to enjoy in Ema that it comes as a surprise that there’s so little there. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 11, 2021
The dance is pulsating and fun, well-staged and beautifully shot. The sex is dancer-athletic, titillating and mostly packaged in a montage sure to be a widely-shared Reddit clip any day now. But the whole is rather an empty experience, something I confess it shares with other Larraín films. Ema is pretty, provocative and surprising in ways that are more interesting to chew on than satisfying to experience. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySep 9, 2019
A work of self-conscious experimentalism that's too stilted and distancing to invite involvement, it gets some mileage out of the pulsating rhythms of reggaetón street dance but otherwise is so fragmented it lacks forward motion. Read full review
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