The Aftermath
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: March 15, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
43
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
23
Negative:
7
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
Arizona RepublicMelissa YeagerMar 21, 2019
Those who enjoy either World War II movies or period dramas likely will enjoy this movie, even if some of the plot twists are predictable. It's an enjoyable deviation from the typical war story, but if there were more layers of warmth and stronger emotional connections between the characters, it could have built to a more satisfying conclusion. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 29, 2019
Although it’s being marketed as a love story, The Aftermath is more about grief and recovery than romance. In fact, the film’s illicit relationship is a cold, passionless affair that generates as much heat as a dying ember in a snowstorm. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 20, 2019
Throughout, Knightley gives this genteel silliness conviction, grace, heart, and nerve. Sarsgaard gives it smolder and sex appeal. And sometimes, dear reader, that’s all a movie needs. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMar 27, 2019
But even if moviegoers' eyes will roll from time to time, Aftermath is so nicely acted, and so handsomely shot, that those eyes won't likely look away. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'HaraFeb 26, 2019
The bones of the story have been played a million times, but a talented and committed cast make this swoonsome rather than samey. Read full review
60
VarietyGuy LodgeFeb 18, 2019
The result is attractive and diverting, as any well-appointed film starring these actors in mouthwatering period finery could hardly fail to be — though for a story about people rebuilding their lives through grievous personal loss and moral torment, it’s hard not to wonder if its vast reserves of enviable knitwear are counting for more than they should. Read full review
60
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganFeb 18, 2019
The Aftermath works best when looking at the bewildered people who have been left behind, literally, to pick up the pieces. The savage loss of family members still reverberates through empty rooms and ruined landscapes. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMar 14, 2019
Sadly, director James Kent’s sappy and utterly unconvincing new film The Aftermath shows that even the most foolproof ideas wither in the face of turgid, overripe melodrama. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloMar 13, 2019
Much of the book’s emotional context appears to have been lost in translation. Read full review
58
IndieWireEric KohnFeb 18, 2019
None of the pretty imagery or impassioned lovemaking can break free of a mopey old formula that sits on every scene with the same schematic quality that makes its weary setting so familiar from the start. Read full review
50
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonMar 28, 2019
As Knightley and Skarsgard wrestle with this material and each other, the movie around them goes plot crazy. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Chandler LevackMar 22, 2019
It is the cinematic equivalent of crying after sex, cathartic yet wholly awkward for everyone involved. Read full review
50
Original-CinLiam LaceyMar 21, 2019
Except the real Nazis, every character in The Aftermath has good intentions, marred by some moments of poor impulse control. And they are a little dull. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 21, 2019
From the moment Rachael and Stefan look into each other’s eyes while we roll OUR eyes, The Aftermath is a runaway train of cornball cliches. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 21, 2019
Director James Kent’s pretty, frustrating picture has atmosphere in spades, and a diamond-like sheen, but its tale of hearts aflame is slowly clubbed into submission by an excess of taste. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 19, 2019
There’s nothing wrong with Aftermath, but for one strange and nagging thing: To watch it is to want to be faraway from its world and everyone in it. The movie draws a circle around itself that holds no attraction or appeal, though it’s in every other way competent, well-acted and reasonably intelligent. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedMar 19, 2019
The melodrama, unfortunately, is not always convincing. The quality of the acting is so strong that the emotional impact is undeniable. Knightley is so gorgeous, Skarsgård, the Swedish heartthrob, is so decent, and Clarke is so noble in the way he hides his vulnerability, that I liked them all. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiMar 15, 2019
The result is a listlessly soapy melodrama, save for a little bit of modern-day nudity and bloodshed, could have been churned out 60-70 years ago and then gone largely forgotten in the ensuing decades. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshMar 14, 2019
The focus of The Aftermath is in all the wrong places, spending time with characters in which we are unable to gain an emotional foothold. This misplaced attention makes for an erotic drama that feels cold, and a political thriller that feels empty. Read full review
42
The PlaylistAndrew BundyMar 8, 2019
The Aftermath is simply another period melodrama that knows exactly what it is, and that just isn’t quite enough, especially when one considers the leading star’s career oeuvre. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenMar 27, 2019
The sadness harbored by all the film’s characters is evident. Their passions, however, stem from ginned-up claptrap about love and hate being opposite expressions of one overwhelming emotion which can also substitute for each other. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisMar 14, 2019
An old-fashioned wartime romance whose plot highlights are recognizable from outer space, this gleaming dollop of prestige comfort food is neither logically coherent nor emotionally satisfying. Read full review
40
The AtlanticDavid SimsMar 14, 2019
The script, by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, conveys little beyond the fact that Stephen and Rachael are both sad, nice to each other, and very attractive. Read full review
40
The TelegraphMark MonahanFeb 28, 2019
Unlike certain past ventures of Knightley’s, there’s little or no sense of us being given a Big Performance, and she’s often rather moving as a result. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 18, 2019
It is more of a holiday romance and the well-intentioned performances lead nowhere. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeFeb 18, 2019
Where it might have been an old-fashioned melodrama with credible historical appeal, instead it suggests an old-school celluloid epic whose print has lost a reel or two. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 3, 2019
The shifts in attitude Knightley and Skarsgård have to act out are abrupt and jarring enough to feel like perfunctory requirements of a melodramatic script. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDerek SmithMar 12, 2019
The film’s threads of personal loss and cultural friction are all but lost amid the tawdry romantic entanglements. Read full review
37
Washington PostAnn HornadayMar 21, 2019
There’s a ripping good story buried somewhere in The Aftermath, an intriguing but ultimately disappointing story. Read full review
37
TheWrapRobert AbeleFeb 18, 2019
Director James Kent’s adaptation of Rhidian Brook’s 2014 novel — about a ghost-like Germany, a broken British marriage, and the healing powers of a passionate thaw — has the unfortunate quality of a hot-blooded soap grafted onto rather than merged with a historical-political drama. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMar 15, 2019
Consumed by its own chilliness, The Aftermath is an emotionally constipated movie about emotional constipation. That may come off as a glib way to describe something that purports to explore the paralyzing nature of grief, but James Kent’s romantic historical drama falls so flat that any sense of tragedy is lost; it’s all surface, and stasis. Read full review
30
Rolling StonePeter TraversMar 12, 2019
A stuffy, soggy slog of a movie that fails to generate sparks or a lick of dramatic sense. Read full review
25
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiMar 14, 2019
The drama is a crude blend of history and pulpy romance, with maudlin performances from the two leads. Read full review
More From This Movie

43 Critic Reviews

6.0 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL