What Will People Say
Kino Lorber | Release Date: July 13, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorJun 6, 2018
Mozhdah empathetically charts Nisha’s despairing acquiescence and fitful rebellions, but it’s Adil Hussain’s work making her father not entirely unsympathetic that really stands out. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerAug 10, 2018
Although the role may not have been written with great depth, Hussain’s performance as Mirza is richly layered. Read full review
80
The New York TimesTeo BugbeeJul 12, 2018
In a resolute acknowledgment of the oppression that too many young women face at home, the film portrays the family structure as the enforcing unit of feminine docility. Here, love is another form of bondage. Read full review
80
VarietyAlissa SimonJun 6, 2018
"People” represents a big step up from Haq’s more modestly scaled debut, but it’s a move she handles with assurance and aplomb. She develops the father-daughter relationship visually as well as verbally, showing the action from both their perspectives. Read full review
75
The Film StageJared MobarakJun 6, 2018
It’s about hypocrisy, mistrust, and the struggle felt by second-generation immigrants everywhere. And Haq pulls no punches in depicting just how devastatingly bad things can get when a child’s mind is torn between a community built on archaic ideals and another entrenched in a present where such stringent rules prove impossible to uphold. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangAug 2, 2018
The emotional momentum...is carried along easily by Mozhdah, making a remarkable screen debut: In an instant, she can melt from trembling vulnerability to hair-pulling defiance, and in nearly every scene, we see her not just emoting but also thinking, continually renegotiating her position in a world that perceives her as tainted goods. Read full review
70
Film Journal InternationalAnna StormJul 12, 2018
Ostensibly a drama filmed with European realism, What Will People Say has the air and the unsettling effect of a horror film. Read full review
70
Village VoiceApril WolfeJul 11, 2018
Despite the subject matter, Haq is most often quite tender in her storytelling. Read full review
70
Screen DailyAllan HunterJun 6, 2018
No matter how melodramatic the story becomes, and how much the emotions boil, What Will People Say at least tries to understand both sides of this cultural and generational divide. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyJul 13, 2018
This is a sensitively made film that’s pretty frustrating. In the tradition of some vintage Italian films that got gathered under the rubric of Neo-Realism, it gives you a character to root for and then places her between a rock and a hard place with no cavalry coming to the rescue. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineDerek SmithJul 9, 2018
The film flirts with miserablism, but it counterbalances the direness of its main character's situation with moments of levity. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloJul 10, 2018
Mozhdah, appearing in her first film, can’t match the astonishing, bone-deep understanding of psychic masochism and involuntary complicity that Nicole Kidman brought to her similarly fraught therapy sessions in "Big Little Lies" — this film isn’t operating on that rarefied level in any respect, frankly — but she does manage, in this quietly harrowing scene, to make Nisha more than just a helpless victim. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jun 6, 2018
he performances are strong, and the situation itself presumably carries a harrowing veracity, but an ordeal is about all the movie offers. Shaking your head over and over again is the only suitable reaction. Read full review
50
The PlaylistChristian GallichioJul 16, 2018
In a film lacking in nuance, Mozdah brings needed depth to her performance. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijJun 6, 2018
This is the second feature from Pakistani-Norwegian filmmaker Iram Haq, but unfortunately it lacks the nuance and insight of her impressively poignant yet controlled debut feature, I Am Yours. Read full review
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