81
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Village VoiceSimon AbramsVillage VoiceSimon AbramsUnassumingly powerful details make The Guardians one of the year’s most affecting love stories.
- 90Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranThe Guardians is an intimate French epic, elegantly made and quietly emotional, a family story filled with characters whose lives we sink into, feeling the hope, the sadness, the sorrow and the joy right along with those on the screen.
- 90Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWall Street JournalJoe MorgensternThe Guardians, though, is special in a new way. Imagine devoting several years, as Mr. Beauvois did, to making a reflective, bucolic feature that is organized around the themes of community and evolving culture. It’s all too subtle for words, but perfect for moving pictures.
- 80The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottThe Guardians is a historical drama that doesn’t lose itself in decorative period detail, a beautifully photographed chronicle of rural existence that refrains from picturesque sentimentality and grinding misery, the usual modes for this kind of film.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerThe Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerIt proves that Beauvois still masters his uniquely classical brand of filmmaking, coaxing strong performances out of veteran Nathalie Baye and newbie Iris Bry, who makes an impressive screen debut.
- 80VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeInspired by prize-winning French author Ernest Pérochon’s 1924 novel, director Xavier Beauvois’ emotionally devastating adaptation — which some may find as arduous as the wartime chapter it depicts — dispenses with a fair amount of the suffering to be found in the book, forgoing the contemporary tendency toward gritty, handheld realism in favor of a more timeless, almost painterly aesthetic.
- 75Slant MagazineKeith WatsonSlant MagazineKeith WatsonThe film captures the pictorial beauty of old-fashioned farm life, but director Xavier Beauvois is careful not to romanticize hard labor for its own sake.
- 75RogerEbert.comChristy LemireRogerEbert.comChristy LemirePart of the allure of The Guardians comes from the casting: The radiant, real-life mother and daughter Baye and Smet play mother and daughter Hortense and Solange.
- 58The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloWhat starts out as a testament to female fortitude, reminding us that sacrifices were also made on the home front, gradually turns into high-toned soap opera.