Last September, The

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

Undeniable asset of an A list cast.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

A gorgeous autumnal period piece that catches a vanishing proprietary class on the eve of its extinction in Ireland in 1920.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

This is one of those rare times when a credit-heavy gathering of top film talents actually manages to produce a work of art.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

Impeccably acted by a fine ensemble cast, it's a sheer pleasure to behold.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A luminous, piercing film from the Elizabeth Bowen novel, richly evokes a world of privilege on the verge of disintegration.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Like hard-edged "Masterpiece Theater."

Chicago Tribune John Petrakis

One of those rare movies that manages to maintain the hushed intensity and claustrophobic anxiety that is normally associated with theater or prose.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

There's something Slavic about Warner's storytelling.

Film.com Peter Brunette

A Melancholy Delight. Its pacing will undoubtedly seem too deliberate to some, but I found first-time director Deborah Warner's The Last September a delight from beginning to end.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The movie doesn't have much more get-up-and-go than the characters, but solid performances and richly textured camera work keep it involving most of the way through.

Miami Herald Curtis Morgan

Sad confusions and emotional disconnections are what the story is all about.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

The quality of acting in September, coupled with Idziak's images, warrant a visit.

Village Voice Leslie Camhi

The film's pathos lies not with people who have justice on their side, but with those who don't know where they belong.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

This gorgeous expressionist drama makes the comparisons so effectively at the outset that by the end they seem belabored.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

More interesting for the world it evokes rather than the drama that unfolds.

Portland Oregonian Diana Abu-Jaber

There's enough caustic wit, romance and dizzy whimsy to make The Last September, if not deep, at least diverting.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Instead of a sweeping epic, this adaptation of a novel by Elizabeth Bowen is much quieter, a work perhaps too understated and stereotypical for its own good.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

I'm not sure the movie should have pumped up the melodrama to get us more interested, but something might have helped.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Saga too arty for own good.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Overall, The Last September is a real snooze.

TV Guide Steve Simels

There's a certain built-in poignance to the end-of-an-era proceedings here, regardless of how frostily they're dramatized.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

A botched job: the various relationships and personal histories of the characters are never made clear, the last act is glaringly disjointed, the writing and direction are all over the map.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Not even the rich and nuanced performances of stage veterans Smith, Gambon, and Birkin can save this British period drama from languishing amid the story's unfocused longings and unrealistic musings.