Grazia's Island
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: May 23, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Not since "Y Tu Mamá También" has a movie so palpably captured the down-to-earth, flesh-and-blood reality of high-spirited people living their lives without self-consciousness. Read full review
88
PremierePeter Debruge
In the annals of Mediterranean island love stories, Respiro reflects the effortless charm of a film like "Il Postino," rather than the untidy manufactured romance of another "Captain Corelli's Mandolin." Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
It's slight but in a haunting way, like a half-remembered dream. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
For all Golino's comeliness, she's upstaged by the windy beauty of the landscape, and by Crialese's attention -- in an Italian neorealist way -- to the routines of daily life in an insular, traditional culture. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
On its own terms, the movie succeeds. Like a fable, its meanings are unspecific but haunting. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A cheerful, life-affirming film, strong in its energy, about vivid characters. It uses mental illness as an entertainment, not a disease. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
If you prefer your domestic clashes sunnier and more strenuously poetic, Respiro may be your respite. If nothing else, it's a reminder of how severely underutilized Valeria Golino is as both actress and cinematic glory. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A beautifully composed tone poem about unspoken group dynamics in an isolated community. It is also, in its way, about how love endures. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
This is one of those films that can accurately be described as small. Mostly, you just appreciate the time spent with these particular people in this particular place. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Director Emanuele Crialese captures a stifling, dead-end rural culture awash in nature's beauty but seething with pent-up sexual frustration. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The bulk of the film merely yearns for lucidity and magic. At its worst, Respiro resembles My Big Fat Italian Nervous Breakdown. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
The movie's pleasures draw on old-fashioned Italian neo-realist simplicity. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
The film's generous spirit, disarming mixture of beauty and brutality, and gentle, insistent sweep make it easy to surrender to it anyway. Read full review
70
Film ThreatRich Cline
As a whole, the film is perhaps a bit too gentle and meandering, but it's jammed full of superb moments. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
The film doubtless works better for those able to accept it unquestioningly as a charming fable of the redemptive, healing power of love that it means to be. Read full review
70
VarietyDavid Rooney
Crialese's first feature in his native Italy is a small but distinctive drama that displays a firm command of his cast, an arresting visual sense and an admirable avoidance of facile sentiment or cliche. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
A small but grand expression of the beauty of the feminine, which brings everyone together with revised and deepened appreciation. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Respiro scores high -– if strange -– marks, but I think it’s more in love with the quirky nature of life on a small island, which, unsurprisingly, echoes life in any small town, be it here or on some faraway Sicilian isle. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Somewhere along the way, Respiro just seems to run out of breath. Read full review
60
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The film is merely a succession of odd events. But those events are interesting, and the texture of the village's life is full-fashioned. Read full review
60
Village VoiceLaura Sinagra
It's Filippo Pucillo who gives the youngest son such mellifluous southern sass that you wish the camera would abandon the whole woman-as-sadness retread and scooter off in his direction. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
The authenticity of its setting and its actors make this effort worth a look. Read full review
50
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Has a sexy cast and is gorgeous to watch -- but it takes more than that to make a movie worth seeking out. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
While Grazia's story is too reminiscent of such films as "Blue Sky" (1994), which also draws an all too easy connection between mental illness and the oppression of high-spirited housewives, the evocation of provincial life in a tiny village that's wholly dependent on the sea is splendid, and recalls a number of classic Italian films. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
I found it warm, humane, pretty, and dull enough to anesthetize patients awaiting massively invasive surgery. Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Its long-winded denouement, in which Grazia runs away rather than be sent to an institution, doesn't bring the story full circle. It just extends it. Read full review
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