The Life Ahead
Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): November 13, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiNov 5, 2020
The actress is absolute bliss in her new Italian drama, The Life Ahead. Read full review
80
The New York TimesGlenn KennyNov 12, 2020
This picture earns its tear-jerking without becoming treacly. OK, without becoming too treacly. And it has other charming, enlightened components. Read full review
80
ABC NewsPeter TraversOct 30, 2020
Get out your handkerchiefs. Directed by her son Edoardo Ponti, Sophia Loren, 86, returns to the screen after a decade to play a Holocaust survivor who raises the children of prostitutes. There is not a single false note in Loren’s magnificent performance. Just sit back and behold. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyOct 29, 2020
Slipping into the flavorful Neapolitan accent of her early years, Loren creates a warm-blooded, grounded character, whose feistiness ebbs slowly as the ravages of age, ill health and painful memory take hold. It's a lovely performance, full of pathos, from an esteemed actress whose wealth of experience illuminates this touching human drama. Read full review
75
TheWrapSteve PondNov 24, 2020
The heart of the film is in the connection between a 12-year-old boy and an 86-year-old woman, and Loren and Gueye make that relationship rich and touching enough to give life to the movie that surrounds it. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattNov 13, 2020
It's the smaller moments shared by the movie's flawed, humble characters — Loren twirling to old samba records in magic-hour sunlight; Karimi's Hamil teaching Momo how to reweave a rug — and its immersive Italian setting that make Life worth its sweet, meandering time. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyNov 13, 2020
"The Last Movie Star" paid tribute to Burt Reynolds' career, but also appreciated what he brought to the table as an old man. The Life Ahead operates the same way, allowing Loren similar grace and space. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayNov 11, 2020
The Life Ahead might be a familiar story, but as a showcase for Loren’s sensuality, star power and unfailing instincts, it feels both classic and exhilaratingly new. She’s still got it, and as this performance reminds us at every turn, she always did. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrNov 11, 2020
Yet The Life Ahead works admirably well — meaning you’re reduced to soggy Kleenex but honestly — in large part because of the grounded, magnetic performances of the two leads. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 10, 2020
While it is unabashedly sentimental and at times goes over the top with the symbolic melodramatic devices, it is a beautifully shot and heartwarming film, and the 86-year-old Loren is magnificent and regal and fierce and funny and beautiful and screen-commanding throughout. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekNov 13, 2020
The surprises of The Life Ahead are the gentle kind: There are no wild revelations or transformations, no hyper-dramatic turnabouts. But the movie has a quietly enjoyable power. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleNov 12, 2020
With every line and look, Loren both reminds us of her legacy playing tenacious women and paints Rosa’s distinctive fire and grief like an artisan. It’s a compact master class in the movie star’s craft: exquisitely tailored glamour and deft characterization working seamlessly in tandem. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternNov 12, 2020
The book’s climax has been changed, somewhat awkwardly, but the movie doesn’t go soft in the end. I prefer to think it goes tender. Read full review
67
IndieWireEric KohnOct 29, 2020
The Life Ahead is compelling enough to make the by-the-numbers narrative worth telling, if only because with such fine-tuned performances at its center, it deserves to be told. Read full review
65
CNNBrian LowryNov 13, 2020
There's one clear reason to watch The Life Ahead, but for those who appreciate cinematic history, it's a good one: Sophia Loren, still striking at 86, starring in this Italian-language film directed by her son, Edoardo Ponti. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiNov 9, 2020
With its tough-minded characters from divergent cultures finding a common bond despite their differences, the film doesn’t deliver much in the way of surprises, but it turns out to be a starker and more honest piece of work than it might initially seem. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 3, 2020
Pairing Loren up with a child with this much spark, acting-up and acting-out, proves to be a winning formula for the film. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzNov 3, 2020
Ultimately, Ponti’s film survives on the one surprise that’s not much of a surprise at all: the power and majesty of his lead actress. And how did the director score such a casting coup? You’d have to ask his mother ... Sophia Loren. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Mark KermodeNov 15, 2020
The main selling point is Loren, who combines world-weary abrasiveness with a sense of something softer, turning Rosa into a believably divided character who puts a brave face on the future while seeking refuge from the past in the sanctuary of her lonely basement. Read full review
60
EmpireIan FreerNov 13, 2020
A potentially trite tale of an unlikely relationship is lifted immeasurably by Sophia Loren and is best viewed as a testament to the true power of the movie star. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawNov 12, 2020
Loren still has an imperious address to the camera. I spent much of this film wishing she were allowed to let rip with something more spirited, but it’s a heartfelt performance. Loren has an undiminished screen presence and it’s great to see her with a substantial role. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonOct 29, 2020
Ponti fills this adaptation of the Romain Gary novel with an abundance of empathy, illustrating how all of us are nursing invisible psychic wounds, but the execution is so gauzy it never quite connects. Read full review
60
VarietyGuy LodgeOct 29, 2020
The film, modest and often maudlin on its own storytelling terms, runs on a current of beyond-the-screen devotion that makes it compelling. Without that unquantifiable x-factor presence in the frame, it’s hard to say what reason this Netflix release would really have for being. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 12, 2020
She is a great talent, a legend, someone who has made enduring classics, and just the fact that she’s still working at 86 is a gift. But somehow none of that makes The Life Ahead, coming to Netflix on Friday, Nov. 13, an experience worth having. Read full review
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