The Witnesses
Strand Releasing | Release Date: February 1, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Techine's unwillingness to soften his characters reflects a rare honesty about human nature that's rarely seen in movies, particularly movies about fatal illnesses, and his film is an engaging and particularly French character study. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
This is the epidemic from love's point of view, a story as much about how the disease can ravage the heart as it does the body. It is also Téchiné's best film since 1998's superb "Alice et Martin," and 1994's even better "Wild Reeds." Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The Witnesses may be schematic, but it lets each character live and breathe. The film captures a time and place that seems very distant now. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
What the characters in The Witnesses -- and we, the audience -- pay testimony to in André Téchiné's urgent, compassionate, and ultimately optimistic French drama are the toll the epidemic has rung, and the responsibility of the living to choose life. Read full review
80
Village VoiceNathan Lee
The Witnesses forms a magnificent trilogy with "Son Frère" (2003), Patrice Chéreau's devastating account of fraternal devotion in the face of death, and the amazing, acerbic "Before I Forget," a brooding and bitter tale of survival coming soon from Jacques Nolot, here lending an iconic cameo as the proprietor of Manu's hooker hotel. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The Witnesses may frustrate those who prefer movies that tell clear-cut stories in which hard lessons are learned. But in the director’s farsighted vision of life, the ground under our feet is always shifting. As time pulls us forward, the shocks of the past are absorbed and the pain recedes. In its light-handed way, The Witnesses is profound. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
They should hand out a score card with every ticket to The Witnesses to help viewers keep track of who's sleeping with whom. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The Witnesses doesn't pay off with a great operatic pinnacle, but it's better that way. Better to show people we care about facing facts they care desperately about, without the consolation of plot mechanics. Read full review
70
VarietyDeborah Young
Despite its grim subject, the powerful storytelling projects the strongly affirmative message that it's a miracle to be alive and bear witness to those who did not survive. This memorable film, one of Techine's best, is in no way limited to gay viewers. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Excitingly convoluted. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Téchiné is unusually adroit at manipulating a complex set of relations within a very mixed group of people. This movie is easy to take--chatty and sociable, with a brightly lit, even sunshiny gloss and an open sensuality. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
The tone of The Witnesses is one of randomness. This makes for an ambling narrative, but an atmospheric one that feels authentic despite its unlikely character pairings. Read full review
70
Washington PostJohn Anderson
A timely reminder of AIDS; we've largely forgotten we're in the midst of a crisis. But the movie isn't all cautionary, or at all preachy. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderSteve Erickson
This transcends the usual stodginess of period pieces with crucial historical testimony, delivered with verve. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid Wiegand
A kind of film opera without music. Read full review
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