The Patience Stone
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: August 14, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Portland OregonianJamie S. RichOct 24, 2013
There are surprising developments and revelations along the way, and they all eventually dovetail into a beautiful conclusion. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinAug 15, 2013
It's the flesh-and-blood lead performance by Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani as a profoundly conflicted Muslim wife and mother that seals this cinematic deal. She's superb. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesBruce IngramSep 6, 2013
Rahimi simply made an inspired decision when he chose Farahani...who quietly but powerfully works her way through subtle shadings of emotion from fear to despair to anger to love to righteous vindication. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghSep 5, 2013
The Patience Stone largely functions as a one-woman play, with Farahani’s character soliloquizing over her husband’s body. Read full review
80
VarietyAlissa SimonAug 13, 2013
Sensual and horrifying, The Patience Stone plays like a mesmerizing, modern take on the tales of Scheherazade and a parable on the suffering of Afghan women. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsOct 3, 2013
Afghanistan-born Atiq Rahimi has powerfully adapted his own acclaimed novel, but the film is unlikely to play in the Middle Eastern countries to which this plea for sexual equality seems directed. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrSep 19, 2013
A startling fantasy of Muslim feminist empowerment that allows the Iranian-born actress Golshifteh Farahani to put on what amounts to a one-woman show. Read full review
75
Washington PostStephanie MerrySep 13, 2013
Farahani’s performance is outstanding. She comes across as both delicate and fierce, and her sad-eyed anguish is palpable. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 5, 2013
It is a tour de force for the actress, needless to say. Iranian Golshifteh Farahani is wonderful in the role. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisAug 29, 2013
Anchoring the film is an outstanding performance from Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, who plays the timid, nameless woman who comes to believe that her jihadist spouse - rendered silent by a bullet in the neck - is a "patience stone" that can absorb all the misery confided in it. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerAug 23, 2013
The film’s title is derived from a magical black stone of Persian lore that reputedly absorbs the burdens of those who speak to it until it crumbles – freeing the speaker of her troubles. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisAug 13, 2013
Mr. Rahimi opens up an entire world inside the couple’s modest house, filling its few rooms with enough air, sharp words and slow-boiling intrigue that the walls never feel as if they’re closing in on you. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungAug 13, 2013
A luminous central performance from Golshifteh Farahani distinguishes an ambitious if somewhat monotonously wordy adaptation of a prize-winning best-seller. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesOct 2, 2013
There isn’t a false step from the quietly devastating Farahani; her tour-de-force performance carries the film through its rocky stretches. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comHank SartinSep 13, 2013
The story is so stripped down it feels like minimalist theater. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierAug 14, 2013
Farahani — seen in “Body of Lies” and “Chicken With Plums” — is equally vibrant in a performance, and a film, that dares us to listen. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid FearAug 13, 2013
Better to think of this as a star vehicle for Farahani, who almost single-handedly carries the film; the range the Iranian actor displays here proves that she’s destined for bigger things. Fans will just have to be patient. Read full review
60
The DissolveKeith PhippsAug 13, 2013
For much of The Patience Stone, Farahani is the movie, and as she shifts from fear to despair to anger to emotions she’d never previously considered, her magnetic presence goes a long way toward putting a human face on the film, more successfully than the material around her. Read full review
50
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeAug 15, 2013
Farahani determinedly underplays her character, and is often very touching. But while there is a satisfying final scene, The Patience Stone is essentially a monologue, and Atiq Rahimi (directing the adaptation of his own novel) doesn’t have what it takes to make the story more dynamic. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloAug 14, 2013
There’s only so much anyone can do with a conceit that amounts to a movie-length speech delivered to a coma patient. Read full review
40
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlAug 13, 2013
The more typical approach transforms the material, and not for the better—rather than a revelation about how it feels to live her life, this feels like a document of what that life might look like as a conventional, often pokey movie. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoApr 17, 2013
While Atiq Rahimi's film may peel away the many layers of its female lead like an onion, the end result is still just an onion. Read full review
More From This Movie

64 Critic Reviews

7.8 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