The End We Start From
Republic Pictures | Release Date: January 19, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
ObserverEmily ZemlerDec 7, 2023
Leave it to screenwriter Alice Birch—who has brought Normal People and The Wonder to the screen, among her other credits—to adapt Hunter’s delicate brush strokes into a fully-realized painting that leaves an emotional and philosophical impact. Read full review
83
The Film StageChristopher SchobertSep 12, 2023
Ultimately, The End We Start From is a success because its focus is not on the tropes of post-apocalyptic cinema. Instead it zeroes in on the love between a mother and her child, and that makes all the difference. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeJan 20, 2024
I can think of few other films that get into the skin of new motherhood, with its formless terrors and fierce, furious primal love, as inventively and effectively as this one. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawJan 18, 2024
Comer’s vulnerability and idealism are authentic as are her determination and a dash of real ruthlessness . . . She carries everything with unselfconscious strength and style. Read full review
80
Time OutOlly RichardsJan 17, 2024
If the film ends up somewhere a little too neat, Comer makes the journey always worthwhile. Read full review
80
Total FilmNeil SmithJan 16, 2024
A brief cameo from producer Benedict Cumberbatch provides some additional mid-film star wattage. Yet who needs it when you have Comer, a force of nature to rival any city-swamping deluge? Read full review
80
Film ThreatAlex SavelievNov 23, 2023
If you liked Children of Men, chances are you will enjoy this film. It has the same blend of despondency and lyricism, hope and despair, beauty and violence. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyOct 17, 2023
With her actors, Belo captures moments of staggering grief that are moving in their restraint: we deal, usually, with the stricken aftermath. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJan 18, 2024
Whatever it is, it’s the rare case of an intelligent disaster movie. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflyDec 8, 2023
The End We Start From is down-to-earth, beautifully conceived and thoughtful, a shrewd piece of filmmaking in support of the story’s thematic preoccupations, particularly motherhood. Read full review
75
ColliderNate RichardSep 17, 2023
The End We Start From leaves the audience with plenty to ponder and think about alongside reminiscing about Comer's incredible performance. Read full review
75
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodSep 15, 2023
This may feel like familiar territory to another U.K.-set disaster film, “Children of Men,” or the recent mini-series “Station Eleven,” but Bellow has crafted something singular here. And you won’t forget it. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJourdain SearlesSep 25, 2023
The film, based on the novel of the same name by Megan Hunter, takes a quiet, emotional approach to the end times, with director Mahalia Belo favoring a meditative visual style. Read full review
70
Screen DailyWendy IdeSep 14, 2023
This is a story of survival, but it is by no means typical of the genre – instead it is sensory, tactile; a film that taps into an atavistic, instinctual primal quality that characterises new motherhood. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichDec 8, 2023
The End We Start From leaves most of its spectacle to the imagination (radio news reports handle the lion’s share of the heavy lifting), freeing Belo to train her camera on the whirlwind of emotions that storm across Comer’s face as her character gradually comes to realize that none of this is just for now. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJan 17, 2024
The story slows to a crawl toward the end, even with a scene featuring a carjacking. But in its relentless focus on Comer’s Mother with a capital M, as she is called, and her character’s almost primal determination, it gets somewhere that feels unforced and, however uneventful, real. Read full review
63
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiSep 12, 2023
As well-worn as it may be, Comer reliably freshens up every project she touches and makes otherwise cold scenes sizzle. Read full review
60
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyJan 18, 2024
Belo and Birch, and their star Jodie Comer, breathe life and fire into the mothers typically left stagnant on the apocalypse’s sidelines. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesTara BradyJan 18, 2024
By focusing on human-sized and domestic drama, The End We Start From can’t match the escalating jeopardy and horrific narrative punch of such similarly themed, bigger-budgeted fare as The Road or I Am Legend. Read full review
60
EmpireLaura DenningJan 16, 2024
Prettily shot and with moments of emotional power thanks to Jodie Comer’s performance, The End We Start From is involving and unpredictable, yet strangely cold when it should be searing. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 13, 2023
There’s just about enough care and sensitivity in The End We Start From to offset its issues, providing us with an unusual, female-powered alternative within a field of films that are usually heavier on action than words. Read full review
50
The New York TimesAlissa WilkinsonJan 18, 2024
It’s as much a movie about the hazy struggles of early motherhood as it is about survival in a destroyed world — and it’s best when it leans into the former, with characters’ discussing why anyone has a baby at all. Read full review
50
Paste MagazineTrace SauveurOct 18, 2023
It reaches for the heights its progenitors offer and struggles to maintain an identity of its own. Read full review
40
IGNRafaela Sales RossJan 8, 2024
The End We Start From is a muddy post-apocalyptic drama that fails to nail the human connection at its core. Read full review
40
The Daily BeastNick SchagerSep 10, 2023
No matter Jodie Comer’s committed effort to wring something emotional from this cataclysmic saga, the film proves soggy in every respect. Read full review
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