Clearing, The

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

The very best thrillers -- a select group to which The Clearing clearly belongs -- exploit subconscious fears that bubble up at vulnerable moments.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A beautiful and consistently engaging film, but that the filmmakers dared cast all three lead roles with actors who are over 40 makes it especially rewarding.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Just when you think The Clearing is too simplistic to have any dramatic edge, the actors dig in and flesh out the stark framework of the story.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

It stays in character, small, human, bitter and sad.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The Clearing reminds us what a riveting presence he (Redford) can be.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Redford has rarely done this kind of intimate drama, effectively a two-character play on the mountain, and he's very convincing. As is Dafoe.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The Clearing doesn't feel bound by the usual formulas of crime movies. What eventually happens will emerge from the personalities of the characters, not from the requirements of Hollywood endings.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The performances are immaculate, especially Dafoe and the always-magnificent Mirren, who rarely gets a vehicle this worthy of her talent.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The pleasures of this endeavor, directed with a keen eye for detail by Pieter Jan Brugge, come from what the actors bring to the material.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Redford gives one of his best performances ever in this taut, emotionally engrossing thriller.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

Unsatisfying as crime drama but haunting as a meditation on marriage.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

I expected this to open out into another loud, thumping thriller. Instead it remains quiet and focused, exploring the couple's frayed relationship and the economic divide that separates the husband from his captor.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Classy, decorous and well acted, directorial debut by Hollywood producer Pieter Jan BruggePieter Jan Brugge is nicely crafted but too buttoned up to generate more than polite interest, much less the urgent excitement a kidnapping story might be expected to trigger.

Village Voice David Ng

Kidnapping movies invariably crescendo to a fever pitch of procedural complexity. At a terse 91 minutes, The Clearing offers the reverse, a movie that only grows more conceptually minimal as the clock ticks down.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

Director Pieter Jan Brugge makes us feel their impatience and frustration even as they do. He's aided greatly in this by the casting of the wonderful Helen Mirren as Mrs. Hayes.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The Clearing is what's known in the biz as an alternative for adult moviegoers. Which is to say the film is a performance-driven drama devoid of special effects and loud noises. On the contrary, it's a meditation on midlife weaknesses and compensation.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Classy but ultimately unsatisfying film.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The Clearing is being positioned as "adult counter-programming" for the summer season, but the benefits of seeing this movie may not be worth the patience necessary to get through it.

USA Today Mike Clark

This is one of those moderately engrossing movies that seems to collapse all at once during the wrap-up, yet it's well-acted all around.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

An extremely well- acted thriller that simply fails to thrill.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

This anti-thriller radiates dread rather than suspense; it delivers creeping apprehension rather than adrenaline-pumping kicks, and the uniformly strong and finely calibrated performances more than compensate for the absence of technical razzle-dazzle.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

The real problem is that Brugge and Haythe fail to satisfactorily pull off either the thriller or the marital deconstruction.

Film Threat Christopher Zinsli

As austere as the unflappable Mr. Redford, The Clearing is an enterprising but ultimately unsatisfying exercise that promises quite a lot, but delivers very little.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Wants to be at any given moment--wrenching, thought-provoking, surprising, heartbreaking--all it ever is is tastefully lifeless. It’s been beaten into a coma by its own scruples.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

It never adds up to much. There's a fair amount of fine acting (with that cast, how could there not be?), but it's in the service of a story that bubbles without ever boiling.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

What's missing most in the film, though, is a palpable sense of tension.

The New York Times Dave Kehr

Mr. Brugge has perhaps succeeded in avoiding vulgar melodrama, but he has hit on something far worse -- a bloodless melodrama, with bottled water running in its veins.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Ultimately, we find ourselves looking for the wrong sort of clearing: a way out.

Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt

Just an OK thriller, full of standard scenarios and cookie-cutter characters.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The Clearing has been directed by a successful producer. In this case it's Pieter Jan Brugge, who brings seriousness and intelligence to his newly chosen craft, but little verve.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

An opaque kidnapping drama that features three expertly crafted performances operating on three different planets.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Surprisingly dreary kidnapping drama.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

A thriller stripped of thrills--or, even worse, a thriller that thinks of itself as somehow rising above the vulgar pleasures of excitement.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

I'm certainly not asking for car chases and explosions here, but this is a suspense film that's too "adult" for its own good, despite the fact that Redford, Dafoe, and Mirren (in particular) have rarely been more mature in their performances.