Potiche
Music Box Films | Release Date: March 25, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallApr 27, 2011
The plot is a piffle but Ozon's presentation is gloriously romantic. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnMar 29, 2011
Potiche successfully satirizes the gender politics at its core. At the same time, it knowingly mocks the obsession over debates about the suppression of women that pervaded the culture during the movie's setting. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayMar 24, 2011
Funny, twisty, and sometimes bittersweet, Potiche is a fluffy good time, but not entirely insubstantial. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanMar 25, 2011
Neither Francophiles nor film fans could ask for anything more than François Ozon's latest, a charming comedy. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreMay 4, 2011
The daft feather-light French farce Potiche is a period piece designed to remind us of just how far and how fast women have come in the Western world. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn LevyApr 21, 2011
If this sounds like cheesy melodrama, that's exactly how director Francois Ozon ("Swimming Pool," "8 Women") wants it. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertApr 16, 2011
There's little effort at psychological depth, and the characters float along on the requirements of comedy. But it's sweet comedy, knowing about human nature, and Deneuve and Depardieu, who bring so much history to the screen, seem to create it by their very natures. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsApr 16, 2011
Potiche is very "Touch of Class" and "House Calls" in its comic vibe and trappings, and if you're old enough to remember those Glenda Jackson rom-coms, you'll probably respond favorably to Potiche. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliApr 5, 2011
It's better than most dramas showing in multiplexes. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 31, 2011
It's funny, broad and never stops moving. It's made to please, and succeeds. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMar 31, 2011
Potiche is filled with rat-a-tat dialogue and broadly humorous situations, but Ozon also employs subtle touches. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorAndy KleinMar 27, 2011
For its first two-thirds, Potiche is a frothy delight. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumMar 23, 2011
An Orson Welles-size Gérard Depardieu does gallant work as the town's leftist mayor. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedMar 22, 2011
Ms. Deneuve has been directed by everyone from François Truffaut to Roman Polanski, but she has gone on the record saying she has a special rapport with Mr. Ozon (the 2002 film "8 Women" remains a classic). He brings out such a loopy delicacy in her that she shines-a charming, witty centerpiece from start to finish. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranMar 24, 2011
Helping to keep this ship from keeling over is the great professionalism and light touch of Deneuve and Depardieu. Costars numerous times, they go together as comfortably as an old pair of gloves. Potiche very much counts on this, and it has not miscalculated. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMar 24, 2011
You suspect, before long, that there is no strong reason for this production to exist, but it is reasonably good fun all the same. Read full review
70
Village VoiceKarina LongworthMar 22, 2011
Like its heroine, Potiche is deceptively lightweight, its camp screwball fizziness giving way to a surprisingly cogent feminist parable, in which the personal proves again and again to be the most volatile variable in the political. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungMar 21, 2011
Has plenty of contemporary sparkle and life, courtesy of a masterful central performance by grande dame Catherine Deneuve. Read full review
70
VarietyBoyd van HoeijMar 21, 2011
Eight years after the crowd-pleasing "8 Women" and a mostly impressive run of small-scale arthouse films, Francois Ozon effortlessly moves back to the mainstream with another sparkling, occasionally side-splitting adaptation of a French boulevard-theater play. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenApr 21, 2011
A lightweight confection, this French import slides down easily even though it never truly satisfies. Read full review
65
NPRBob MondelloMar 25, 2011
It's all still pretty silly, though. So it makes sense that the director approaches the story through a period lens, encouraging his cast to behave as if they were in a frothy '70s confection like "Cousin Cousine" or "Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe." Read full review
65
MovielineStephanie ZacharekMar 24, 2011
The chief reason to see Potiche - maybe the only reason - is Deneuve. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenMay 13, 2011
Without its star, this picture would float off forgettably into the ether. Read full review
63
Washington PostMark JenkinsApr 21, 2011
Fortunately, for both Ozon and the viewer, the title character is played by Catherine Deneuve, who can very nearly carry a film by herself. Read full review
63
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottApr 8, 2011
Potiche never becomes funny enough or interesting enough. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrApr 7, 2011
What the movie utterly fails to resolve is what François Ozon is up to here and where he's going next. Read full review
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