Chris & Don. A Love Story

San Francisco Chronicle David Wiegand

This is the portrait of a marriage as full and enviable as the greatest unions in literature.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

A celebration -- of love, commitment and devotion until the bitter end. Gay and straight viewers alike are sure to be inspired by this lyrical testament to a corollary of Tolstoy's famous dictum: Every unhappy family might be unhappy in its own way, but every genuinely happy family is a triumph.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Chris & Don is the rarest of documentaries: a realistic portrait of the human spirit.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Even a klutz could hardly make a bad movie about these compelling figures. Thankfully though, Guido Santi and Tina Mascara are superb filmmakers, fully alive in their terrific film Chris & Don: A Love Story to all the undercurrents of art, social class, sexual orientation, challenging relationships and, most especially, the touching love story at the heart of their film.

Village Voice Ernest Hardy

With his elegant cadence, crisp comedic timing, and witty flipping of homophobic stereotypes--in his very choice and use of language--Bachardy is that story come to life: the student who eventually mirrored his teacher, the molded who became a duplicate of the mold.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The elegantly structured documentary weaves extensive footage of Mr. Bachardy rummaging through their house and reminiscing with readings from Isherwood's diaries by Michael York, old interviews with Isherwood, home movies of their travels and glamorous social life, and commentary by friends, including Leslie Caron and the British filmmaker John Boorman.

Chicago Tribune Sid Smith

A fascinating documentary, one much better than its rather flat and unimaginative title.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Describing the early stages of their sexual attraction, Bachardy sums up the whole outrageously fortunate arc of his life. "It was exactly what the boy wanted," Bachardy says. "And he flourished."

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Their love story was inevitably complicated. And so is the documentary Chris & Don: A Love Story -- not simply a love letter to love -- by Guido Santi and Tina Mascara.

Newsweek David Ansen

Intimate, moving and playful.

Variety Robert Koehler

Made with gentle grace and sensitivity.

Los Angeles Times Robert Abele

Though drawn together by the thrill of infatuation, fostered by Isherwood's penchant for emergent male youth and Bachardy's awe of fame and glitz, the pair developed a durable love strengthened by nurturing and patience. In recounting this journey, directors Guido Santi and Tina Mascara make rich use of the couple's glamorous home movies.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

To describe the novelist's final days, Bachardy opens a drawer and begins pulling out the magnificent deathbed drawings he did of Isherwood -- a fusion of art and love that's deeply moving.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

In part, the documentary answers the question of why some couples flourish and others flounder.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

You wind up caring deeply about the affair that began in the 1950s between American teenager Don Bachardy and three-decades-older Christopher Isherwood, the noted British author whose "Berlin Stories" inspired "Cabaret."

New York Post Kyle Smith

An affecting and beautifully realized documentary.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Becomes more engrossing as its focus shifts from Isherwood to Bachardy, who began as the bashful boy toy of a famous author but gradually emerged in his own right as a portrait artist of striking (and merciless) insight.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

It closes the film in what I suspect was intended as something of a happy ending, but it’s unnecessary: Thirty happy years should be happy ending enough.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

As loving and welcome as Chris & Don is, it's not well enough conceived to create equilibrium among its many parts.