74
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Screen DailyDan FainaruScreen DailyDan FainaruThe Workshop conveys a stunningly authentic portrait of French youth today; their class, racial and occupational concerns.
- It’s a measure of this film’s stealthy brilliance that it blurs the line between empathy and exploitation.
- It’s a film which demonstrates that debate, the exchange of ideas, can be as thrilling as any ramped up action flick.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerThe Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerFeaturing sharp performances from Marina Fois (Polisse) and promising newcomer Matthieu Lucci, the film shows Cantet returning to form...with a story that pursues the themes of his best work while underscoring some of the issues currently facing his homeland.
- 75RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireRogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireFor myself, I couldn’t avoid the irony that, in finding it ultimately rather superficial and self-satisfied in that particular Parisian way, I was echoing Antoine’s criticism of Olivia’s writing.
- 63Slant MagazineChristopher GraySlant MagazineChristopher GrayMatthieu Lucci deftly carries the weight of all the symptoms that The Workshop loads upon Antoine, a resonant character whose inscrutability is at once dangerous, sympathetic, and eerily apt.
- 60Village VoiceVillage VoiceThese scenes of debate (reminiscent of Cantet’s The Class from 2008) thrum with energy, thanks to the spontaneous and full-bodied performances of the nonprofessional cast, whose improvised dialogue feels casual, yet cuttingly profound.
- 58The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloCantet remains a gifted filmmaker — The Workshop’s semi-improvisational aspects are no less impressive than those in "The Class," and he’s at least superficially engaged with the current state of the world — but this isn’t the return to form that his fans have awaited over the past decade.