...Hopkins, Colman, Williams, Sewell and Poots give us an eyeful and and earful of a fate awaiting far too many of us in this quietly gripping and intimate drama.
...no one should have been surprised by Hopkins’s win, since his performance in this highly praised stage-to-screen melodrama is pure Oscar-bait: showy, wordy and worthy.
Le Pére, is able to turn devastating illness into a kind of disjointed poetry — and one still threaded with real emotional resonance — is a testament to his skill as a first-time filmmaker.