Lilya 4-Ever
Newmarket Films | Release Date: April 18, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Light entertainment, this is not. Unforgettable and challenging cinema, it is. Read full review
100
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
As with "Together," Moodysson has pulled off a staggering dramatic coup, and again we are forced to ask: How does he do it? [21 & 28 April 2003, p.194]
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A haunting and incandescent work of art. Read full review
100
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
What makes the film so compelling is the ferocious ingenuity with which Moodysson ratchets up the fear and astonishment that accompany Lilya's all too believable descent. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
It's almost too devastating for words, yet never less than compelling and heartbreakingly affecting. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Lilya's struggle to make a life for herself is both heartbreaking and heart-stirring. Read full review
90
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
It is Akinshina's presence and performance that make the pedestrian story heart-wrenching. She is pretty, responsive, reflective. Without the slightest strain, she convinces us of the beauty and pathos and hope within Lilya. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The most remarkable achievement of the film is its presentation of Lilya's story as both an archetypal case study and a personal drama whose spunky central character you come to care about so deeply that you want to cry out a warning at each step toward her ruination. Read full review
90
VarietyGunnar Rehlin
Hard-hitting, dark and tragic story that rarely lets up. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyErnest Hardy
Lilya is the more genuinely unsettling film because Moodysson seems to actually know something of what it is to take and stumble beneath a crushing blow. You feel that here. And you feel it for days after. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
I can't think of another good movie this year that's as tough to watch as Moodysson's, but, then, I can't think of very many movies that are as good. Read full review
88
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Lilya is portrayed by Oksana Akinshina, who gives a dynamic, heartbreaking performance... She was wonderful in ["Brothers"], but is even more astonishing in Lilya 4-Ever. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
What's remarkable as we watch Lilya's plunge (and the brief, false rays of light that illuminate it) is how real Moodysson makes her plight, how intensely he makes us empathize with Lilya. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Lukas Moodysson, a young Swedish director, crafts a stunner of a film out of familiar turf. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
If you're tired of false holiday cheer, Lilya 4-Ever will provide a corrective to the spiritual eggnog force-fed to us all season. The climax takes place during Christmas, though one that would make Tiny Tim grateful for his crutch and cold chimney corner. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Forget "Irreversible," this is the season's most piercingly feel-bad movie. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Akinshina and Bogucharskij are remarkable together, and Moodysson once again demonstrates a sophisticated visual skill matched only by his innate understanding of the adolescent heart. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie, written and directed by Lukas Moodysson, has the directness and clarity of a documentary, but allows itself touches of tenderness and grief. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
This grim Danish-Swedish production is socially revealing and artistically creative, both coldly realistic and infused with compassion for its heroine and her youth culture. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Doesn't derive its power from the turning wheels of plot suspense but from the simple act of looking and not blinking. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Terrific filmmaking, but it's hard to leave Moodysson's picture without feeling much of anything except hopelessness. Utterly. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
Riveting. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
What it became is essentially one long free-fall from destitution to despair. Read full review
70
SalonCharles Taylor
Not without its own bleak integrity. But the movie wipes you out and leaves you with nothing, not even the feeling of exaltation that can be present in the most tragic works of art. Read full review
70
Film ThreatRich Cline
Amazingly realistic and engaging drama about society punctuated with both humor and grittiness. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
a despairing movie that you can't look away from, though you'll wish you could. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The result is grimly "effective," but it made me long for Hollywood junk. Read full review
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