Critic Reviews
76
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
12(92%)
mixed
0(0%)
negative
1(8%)
Showing 13 Critic Reviews
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Metascore
Metascore
100
What makes this small-scale drama so compelling is Pontecorvo's treatment of the main character.
90
Passionate, literally shimmering movie.
90
Besides Montand's splendid performance, The Wide Blue Road's other treat is seeing a film that's both old-fashioned enough to believe that social concerns can lead to satisfying drama and well-made enough to deliver on that belief. A film infused with that kind of passion never goes out of style.
88
In Wide Blue Road, his (Montand) character and the wages of desperation are much more complex. Here is the real lost Atlantis.
88
A small, beautiful film exploding with big ideas.
80
Dramatically effective, thanks in large part to Montand's impassioned performance.
80
The result is an interesting hybrid of neorealist grit and star-driven melodrama, in which very real concerns about poverty and social injustice are mixed with a romantic subplot.
80
It's worth seeing, though, not only for its occasional moments of breathtaking beauty and sadness but also because its very rarity demands it.
80
A political movie that, partly through the powerful lead performance of its star, the relatively young Yves Montand, transcends its own politics.
75
The style is dated, and its neorealism seems forced and ineffective, but it's still delectable, and mostly for the things Pontecorvo hated about it: its delirious '50s color, and its stars, particularly Montand at the peak of virility.
