My Mother's Smile
Metascore
74 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
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  1. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    100
    This superbly filmed Italian drama stands with Bellocchio's best work. Originally titled "Ora di religione."
  2. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    83
    It's messy and unsettled, but Bellocchio's distaste for the cynicism and mendacity is potent and sincere.
  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Leslie Camhi
    80
    "A very odd thriller" is how Italian director Marco Bellocchio describes My Mother's Smile, his uncannily beautiful and deeply humanist exploration of the nightmares that resurface from a Roman atheist's Catholic childhood.
  4. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    80
    Though the narrative is spotty, and occasionally confounding, there is an epic warmth in the way it's rendered.
  5. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Barbara Scharres
    80
    In his best film in years, Marco Bellocchio crafts a stringently moral tale that carries a hint of horror.
  6. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Marta Barber
    75
    There are many nuances to My Mother's Smile, not all of them evenly told. Yet even when the conversations sound absurd, the film never fails to captivate.
  7. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    75
    In the end, Bellocchio suggests in this spiritual thriller that perhaps faith is the dream from which we do not awaken.
  8. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Curiel
    75
    An artful look at religious hypocrisy, interfamily dynamics and the way people wrestle with personal history long after the original events are over.
  9. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    75
    It's a bit of a mess but strong stuff nevertheless -- a mournful, often wickedly funny religious satire that suggests what Kafka might have come up with had he been raised Catholic.
  10. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    70
    As absurd as the situation gets--and the film occasionally launches into surreal asides that only heighten the absurdity--director and star both keep it grounded in the situation's emotions.
  11. Variety
    Reviewed by: David Rooney
    70
    In the central role, Castellitto's powerfully focused performance manages to keep the complex drama grounded.
  12. The New Republic
    Reviewed by: Stanley Kauffmann
    70
    At the last, My Mother's Smile conveys that, if Bellocchio is just doggedly hanging on to a career, he is still able to make us feel nostalgia for those high Italian days.
  13. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Debra Birnbaum
    63
    A thoughtful, provocative film that understandably ruffled a few feathers in its native Italy -- the portrayal of the church is far less than beatific.
  14. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    60
    It's a sly, subtle portrait of systematic hypocrisy.

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