Testament of Youth
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: June 5, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJun 4, 2015
Unapologetically emotional and impeccably made in the classic manner, it tells the kind of potent, many-sided story whose unforeseen complexities can come only courtesy of a life that lived them all. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJun 4, 2015
Testament of Youth, James Kent’s stately screen adaptation of the British author Vera Brittain’s 1933 World War I memoir, evokes the march of history with a balance and restraint exhibited by few movies with such grand ambitions. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 4, 2015
Thanks to this new film, though, any questions about her potential have been dispelled. Alicia Vikander has fully and memorably arrived, a luminous presence with a gift for tenderness, an instinct for understatement and formidable reserves of passion—she not only rises to the challenge of Vera’s climactic speech, but elevates the pacifist rhetoric into furious poetry. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinJun 2, 2015
Striking an elegantly sustained balance between intimacy and historical scope, director James Kent's WWI-set epic Testament of Youth encompasses nearly all of the virtues of classical British period drama and nearly none of the vices. Read full review
90
VarietyGuy LodgeJun 2, 2015
Deftly balancing restrained sentimentalism with tough-minded human tragedy, this impressive, unashamedly classical feature debut by TV helmer James Kent has the populist heft one expects from producer David Heyman, while preserving the solemn intimacy of Brittain’s account of lives and loves severed by the conflict. Read full review
88
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 11, 2015
Vikander never goes for the easy emotion, though, choosing instead to play against what conventional melodrama would dictate her reaction should be. This understatedness is always the right choice, and it makes for a far more effective — and affecting — film. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireJun 5, 2015
An intimate epic, Testament of Youth has great historical sweep yet remains focused on the human vicissitudes experienced by Vera and her circle. Read full review
88
ObserverRex ReedJun 3, 2015
Handsomely mounted, skillfully acted, exquisitely photographed and genuinely touching, Testament of Youth is one of those rare film experiences that is just about perfect. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 5, 2015
Has the stately picturesqueness of old-fashioned “quality” British cinema. At its center, though, is a performance that cuts right through the decorum. Read full review
83
The PlaylistOliver LytteltonJan 12, 2015
Never, for one second, is Vikander anything less than entirely truthful. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 11, 2015
This is World War I from a woman's point of view, a different perspective than we usually see. It's the story of someone who doesn't fight — who would be so shaped by tragedy that she would vow never to — but for whom the horrors of war are just as vivid and devastating. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJun 8, 2015
Should you ever be tempted to wax nostalgic for an age in which wars were fought according to the laws of cause and effect and for reasons that may confidently be labeled “rational,” pick up Vera Brittain’s World War I memoir Testament of Youth or steel yourself for James Kent’s mournful, very fine new film starring Alicia Vikander as Brittain. Read full review
80
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJun 2, 2015
It’s a sad, sad film about the tragic loss of a generation, but the thought of Brittain moving through the generations to deliver her message afresh is somehow a consolation in its final, rallying cry. Read full review
80
TheWrapInkoo KangMay 28, 2015
The men are slightly forgettable, but the woman is not. Far from the flawless fembot in “Ex Machina,” Vikander’s slight gawkiness is highlighted here, allowing her to look like a real girl, absolutely the right decision by Kent. Read full review
80
CineVueJoe WalshJan 24, 2015
Kent, who gathers a cast of extremely bright young things, creates a drama that glides with sorrowful grace, pitching at a respectful and tear-inducing tone. Read full review
80
Total FilmSimon KinnearJan 15, 2015
Vikander brings fresh emotional weight to the familiar scenario of WW1 grief, ensuring that this mostly avoids the traps of dull, dutiful heritage cinema. Read full review
80
EmpireWill LawrenceJan 12, 2015
There are familiar moments in Vera Brittain’s stirring story, though the Kent's craft and Vikander’s exquisite talent will ensure that the author’s memories live in the minds of a fresh generation... Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyJan 12, 2015
As a film, Testament of Youth glimmers with sadness, but also the apprehension of sadness: we know not all of these boys are coming back. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleJul 3, 2015
Well-acted and sincere, Testament of Youth is chastely romantic in its treatment of the relationship between Vera and Roland, but the film doesn’t hold back on showing the horror of trench warfare. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 12, 2015
To see this film is to understand — not in an intellectual way, but in a direct, visceral way — why the British ignored the threat of Adolf Hitler for so long. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 4, 2015
Harington and Vikander provide the spark the film needs to get us through the tribulations and tragedies that pile on with numbing regularity. You leave Testament of Youth feeling some of the impact that Brittain’s book must have had at the time. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineTimothy E. RawJun 2, 2015
The film's inferno of horrors are undoubtedly visceral, but psychologically implosive rather than entrails-exploding. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 2, 2015
It’s a quiet, thoughtful and handsomely mounted film, offering another plum role to Alicia Vikander (“Ex Machina”) as Brittain. Vikander and the film take Britain, and Brittain, from idealism and hope to grim reality and regret. Read full review
70
The DissolveKate ErblandJun 22, 2015
Vikander is the main event here, and if Testament Of Youth is a testament to anything, it’s to her ability to embody great women with grace and battle-ready precision. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMarsha McCreadieJun 2, 2015
Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), simultaneously poignant and powerful as Vera Brittain, the writer who fought her way into Oxford then chucked that to go to the front as a nurse, gives another indelible performance. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesJul 3, 2015
It’s muddy, bloody, and studded with amputated limbs, yet still rather generic-feeling; it lacks the visceral impact of Joe Wright’s version of Western Front atrocities in "Atonement." Read full review
63
Boston GlobePeter KeoughJun 19, 2015
It is hard to rate Vikander’s acting abilities from this performance. Her sly automaton in “Ex Machina” had more emotional range. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 11, 2015
Vera, as written and as acted, remains a sympathetic and watchful conduit, a peg, rather than a vividly realized engine. We see everything she endures, and all she sacrifices. Yet we are not left with lingering impressions beyond the facts of a fascinating life. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle SmithJun 3, 2015
The film is elegantly done, mainly because it wisely expends most of its energy on Alicia Vikander’s face. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottAug 28, 2015
Beneath all that genre eye candy, though, resides a smart and moving story that, after a somewhat slow-moving first hour, builds nicely to become an emotionally engaging drama. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeJan 12, 2015
A beautifully acted but disappointingly stiff period drama. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianMarc MohanJul 10, 2015
Brittain's life and literary output are worthy of celebration, and there's no better time that the centenary of "The War to End All Wars" to commemorate its bloody folly. It's a shame that Testament of Youth does both in such a bloodless way. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJul 9, 2015
Lovely to look at, and Vikander does nothing to derail her inevitable ascension to the A-list. But as a story, it evokes a word that no battlefield nurse would ever apply to her experiences: sterile. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubKeith UhlichJun 3, 2015
There’s a good movie in Brittain’s story, but you wouldn’t know it from this lethargic, BBC-produced bore. Read full review
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