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User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3

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  1. CraigB.
    Jul 8, 2004
    8
    I am generally suspicious of movies centered around some sort of personal tragic event because lazy screen writers often will use such events as the death of a child or the rape of a person to try and create a level of pathos and empathy in the viewer that is not warranted by the quality of the writing. Why bother writing quality dialogue or creating interesting characters when one can artifically involve a viewer by exploiting a tragic situation? Well, this movie manages to provide the interesting characters and the believable dialogue without exploiting its particular tragic event, and that is a commendable thing. This film delivered a good message in a stylish manner.… Expand
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  2. ChadS.
    Jan 23, 2005
    8
    Who abused the boy? The mother is a bit of a strumpet but she doesn't seem to have any violent impulses. Could it be her black boyfriend. I hope not, but that seems to be the point. Black people get blamed for a lot of things they didn't do. We wouldn't mind if "Alias Betty" settled on one narrative; Betty Fisher's life after her tragedy, but this film is too ambitious to be maudlin. "Alias Betty" is wonderfully subversive about motherhood.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 22
  3. Negative: 1 out of 22
  1. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Gregory Weinkauf
    80
    What's wonderful about director Claude Miller's adaptation of Ruth Rendell's novel "The Tree of Hands" is its grand capacity for compassion and complexity.
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  2. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    70
    As long as Miller simply crosscuts between the machinations of the three mothers, the sociological and psychological parallels are intriguing, but when they're forced to share the same story line, the contrivances and coincidences begin to seem fussily elaborate.
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  3. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    60
    Makes for interesting, rather than emotionally compelling viewing.
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