Critic Reviews

A quiet, heartfelt, and beautifully nuanced drama that feels unique and universal, featuring what will surely go down as one of the best performances of 2023.

Both Lysette and Clarkson are naturally magnetic actors, and they don’t waste the attention they’re given on excess sentimentality.

Spare but poignant, "Monica" is a pensive family drama that’s loaded with the empty space of things left unsaid.

What is particularly powerful is that the film does not feel the need to overexplain Monica. The film offers glimpses into her life, her relationships and her livelihood, but Monica doesn’t have to spell out the details of her past or justify her present to anyone.

This is a tremendously crafted, impeccably intelligent film.

The result is a film of quiet but considerable power.

At its best, Pallaoro’s quiet film wields the paradoxical power of cinema to create pure illusion.

Monica is an unsentimental exploration of its main character’s search for personal fulfillment through human connection.

As character studies go, Monica is an especially timely one, determined to contribute to the current conversation about acceptance and understanding. At the same time, beneath it all lies a more universal concept.

A quietly thoughtful and impressively acted drama.