Novitiate
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: October 27, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 10, 2017
The complexity, richness and fullness of what Leo does here is acting at its most illuminating and useful. Read full review
91
IndieWireKate ErblandAug 11, 2017
Both introspective and entertaining, Betts never forgets that her young nuns are still teenage girls, and Novitiate rings as true as any other film about coming of age. Read full review
90
VarietyGuy LodgeOct 26, 2017
A piercing, immersive, and superbly played convent drama in which the suppression of speech is witnessed at both an individual and institutional level. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonNov 16, 2017
An intense, provocative drama about religion and its impact on those who embrace it as essential to their lives. Read full review
88
ObserverRex ReedOct 31, 2017
You can call Novitiate divinely inspired and mean it. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 26, 2017
Shot through with grit and grace, Novitiate is a potent provocation. It's also something special. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinOct 26, 2017
This arresting work, starring Margaret Qualley, Julianne Nicholson and Melissa Leo as well as a celestial choir of up-and-coming young female actors, mesmerizes as it probes a uniquely female-dominated milieu where passions — both religious, sexual and a combination of the two — run hot under those starched, lily-white coifs and black habits. Read full review
80
Time OutTomris LafflyOct 26, 2017
Betts aims divinely high and succeeds in both understanding and respectfully critiquing organized religion. Is faith escapism or an act of surrender? In grappling with the essence of spirituality, Novitiate—not unlike Martin Scorsese’s Silence—asks more questions than it supplies answers. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranOct 26, 2017
Novitiate sure-handedly takes us inside the world of belief with care, concern and a piercing, discerning eye. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldNov 16, 2017
Novitiate is a fascinating, unblinking yet respectful look at a time and place — a women’s community where a visiting archbishop (Denis O’Hare) can act like he owns the place. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrNov 8, 2017
By turns strikingly original and dramatically slick, deeply felt and a little cooked up. It’s well worth seeing, though. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 5, 2017
By avoiding the temptation to rail against religion and instead offer an introspective and respectful look at it, Novitiate becomes that rare thing: a movie willing to show the flaws of Catholicism without dwelling on its negatives. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattOct 28, 2017
First-time director Maggie Betts has said she based her story in part on extended research into the aftershocks of Vatican II’s new liberties — in its wake, devoted members left the Church in droves — and on personal biographies of the women who experienced it firsthand. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireOct 27, 2017
Rather than indicting the church itself, Betts seems more interested in exploring what drives these girls on the brink of adulthood to pursue such a rigorous spiritual quest—and what prompts some of them to abandon it. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Julia CooperOct 26, 2017
Floating in between the dramatic and the campy, Novitiate doesn’t tell a straightforward story of love and sacrifice, of faith and its crises. Betts’s film is ritualistic and enthralling, with a complex feminism woven into its cloth, and it’s something of a blessing. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartOct 25, 2017
Holy moly, Melissa Leo makes a scary Mother Superior. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinOct 27, 2017
Betts has succeeded in capturing a watershed moment in the life of the Catholic Church — a push to adapt that is, in important ways, at odds with its very origins. Her irresolution makes for excellent drama. Read full review
70
Screen DailyWendy IdeOct 26, 2017
Driven by strong performances, this is, however, a more conventional piece than other recent pictures which explored crises of faith. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottOct 26, 2017
Ms. Betts refrains from easy, uplifting answers and facile condemnations of organized religion. Aided by Kat Westergaard’s warm, restrained cinematography, she takes the viewer close to an understanding of Cathleen’s evolving sense of her relationship with God. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternOct 26, 2017
Gradually, though, it wins you over with endearing performances and a clarity of purpose. If that sounds faintly patronizing, it isn’t meant to. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovNov 15, 2017
Director Margaret Betts’ superb debut feature arrives in theatres at perhaps just the right moment. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloOct 25, 2017
Betts appears to have started out with a rather mundane idea and then stumbled, over the course of her research, onto something much more fruitful. The result is as intriguing and frustrating as that suggests. Read full review
67
The Film StageJohn FinkAug 11, 2017
A stronger character investment up front would have led to a fuller character study as we watch Cathleen walk through the fire. Read full review
63
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonNov 9, 2017
Cathleen’s arc, initially front and center, starts to feel outweighed by the all-in performance of Oscar-winner Leo. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanNov 2, 2017
Betts has put together a talented acting ensemble, and the performances are, for the most part, uniformly good and subtle, particularly among the actresses who play the young novices. Read full review
63
Slant MagazinePeter GoldbergOct 24, 2017
The film's meditative and excessive sides never quite cohere, giving the impression of watching two distinct films that are jostling against each other, rather than united in a single story. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 17, 2017
Novitiate is very much a mixed-bag of a movie, condemned by the fanatic at The Catholic Legion of Decency, but too revealing and realistic to discard outright, too heartfelt to fail to move, at times. Read full review
60
TheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanOct 26, 2017
What Betts seems more interested in is whether these sacrificial rituals are arbitrary or, if not, what they truly represent. To her credit, she never approaches these questions with any judgment, a welcome rarity in films about religion. Indeed, she’s gathered many of the elements required for further enlightenment. It’s just that, in the end, her approach proves too conventional. Read full review
60
VoxAlissa WilkinsonOct 26, 2017
While Novitiate is unsteady in some places, it’s genuinely moving, bolstered by Qualley’s and Nicholson’s performances in particular, as well as a host of talented supporting actresses. Read full review
60
Village VoiceBilge EbiriOct 24, 2017
There’s a lot of great filmmaking in Novitiate, but there’s also quite a bit still missing. Read full review
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