X
  • 2015
  • Unrated
  • Sundance Selects
  • 1 h 43 m
  • 2015
  • Unrated
  • Sundance Selects
  • 1 h 43 m

Summary Rome, 1984. Nine-year-old Aria (Giulia Salerno), a precocious girl, is trying to find her way amidst the unraveling marriage of her temperamental artist parents (played by Charlotte Gainsbourg and Gabriel Garko). Despite the turmoil swirling around her, Aria’s spirit remains irrepressible, buoyed by her vivid imagination and budding tale...

Directed By: Asia Argento

Written By: Barbara Alberti, Asia Argento

  • 2015
  • Unrated
  • Sundance Selects
  • 1 h 43 m
  • 2015
  • Unrated
  • Sundance Selects
  • 1 h 43 m

Misunderstood

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 7 Critic Reviews
67
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Where to Watch

Summary Rome, 1984. Nine-year-old Aria (Giulia Salerno), a precocious girl, is trying to find her way amidst the unraveling marriage of her temperamental artist parents (played by Charlotte Gainsbourg and Gabriel Garko). Despite the turmoil swirling around her, Aria’s spirit remains irrepressible, buoyed by her vivid imagination and budding tale...

Directed By: Asia Argento

Written By: Barbara Alberti, Asia Argento

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 7 Critic Reviews
67
71% Positive
5 Reviews
29% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 7 Critic Reviews
67
71% Positive
5 Reviews
29% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
88
Sep 25, 2015
The result is an occasionally strange, occasionally brutal and occasionally lovely work that goes up on the shelf with "The Ocean of Helena Lee" and "Girlhood" as one of the more impressive coming-of-age tales of recent times.
By Peter Sobczynski FULL REVIEW
75
Sep 22, 2015
The respect that the film mostly has for Aria’s personhood, even at such a young age, gives it a keener edge than many other entries in the rather overpopulated coming-of-age genre.
By Jessica Kiang FULL REVIEW
70
Sep 24, 2015
A buoyantly funny, sometimes desperately sad film.
By Manohla Dargis FULL REVIEW
70
Sep 22, 2015
Argento seems to have learned from the experience of her overwrought first features, or maybe from life itself, that there is more to childhood than Gothic horror, and the mischievous moments of being a kid captured in Misunderstood show a filmmaker who is maturing in the direction of audience appeal.
By Deborah Young FULL REVIEW
70
Sep 22, 2015
Both Aria and the film as a whole are very much in their own head, which is a nice place to visit but probably not the healthiest environment to grow up in.
By Michael Nordine FULL REVIEW
58
Sep 23, 2015
The ostensible boldness of Misunderstood is undermined by the sense that it’s also pandering—that its view of childhood as a bourgeois horror-show is at least as salable on the art-house circuit as it is authentic to its creator’s experiences.
By Adam Nayman FULL REVIEW
50
Sep 18, 2015
The film is only slightly dependent on the self-pity that informed Asia Argento's last effort, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, but it feels similarly airless.
By Elise Nakhnikian FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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Details

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Production Company Wildside, Paradis Films, Rai Cinema, Groupama, Orange Studio, Palatine Étoile 11, SofiTVCiné, Film Commission Torino-Piemonte, Regione Lazio
Release Date Sep 25, 2015
Duration 1 h 43 m
Rating Unrated
Genres
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Awards

Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists
• 1 Win & 5 Nominations
Cannes Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Hamburg Film Festival
• 1 Nomination

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