The Ignorant Fairies
Strand Releasing | Release Date: September 20, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
1
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
This graceful and wise film moves to its denouement with subtlety and, at its end, strikes a note that seems just right for all that has gone before. Read full review
88
Chicago TribunePatrick Z. McGavin
A work about memory and loss, His Secret Life becomes a forum of Antonia's liberation of consciousness and feeling, but there are too many contradictory moods sharing the same space, resulting in a tentativeness and uncertainty. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A movie that grows better by the minute. Read full review
80
VarietyDavid Rooney
The well-structured film goes beyond issues of sexuality, giving nuanced consideration to broader questions of love and loss, family and friendship, trust, lies and deception. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverDavid Ehrenstein
Keeping the mood dry, Ozpetek and his very resourceful leading lady keep the proceedings from turning into an Almodóvar version of Mary Worth. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
Moving and vibrant Italian-language film. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
It's a soapy, simplistic, but surprisingly affecting ambisexual melodrama that plays a little like Pedro Almodovar without the surreal frills. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Startlingly original comedy-drama. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
His Secret Life's languid pace and general aimlessness keep getting in the way. Read full review
70
Village VoiceLaura Sinagra
It's this memory-as-identity obviation that gives Secret Life its intermittent unease, reaffirming that long-held illusions are indeed reality, and that erasing them recasts the self. And it's this existential gerrymandering that's most compelling. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Solid and engrossing melodrama. Read full review
70
The New York TimesDana Stevens
The acting is impeccable, and the intentions are serious and noble, but the affection it elicits stops short of love, and its coziness never risks true intimacy. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldMarta Barber
Even the graceful ending, one that lifts the film a notch, is startling. But at the very least, His Secret Life will leave you thinking. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Though predictable and a bit of a soap opera, Ferzan Ozpetek's Italian drama is saved by the tremendous appeal of its stars, Margherita Buy and Stefano Accorsi. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Pure of intention and passably diverting, His Secret Life is light, innocuous and unremarkable. Read full review
38
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Director Ferzan Ozpetek's film doesn't break any new ground; rather, it recycles every cliché about gays in what is essentially an extended soap opera. Read full review
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