Critic Reviews

Aside from the effectiveness of Set Me Free as a coming-of-age story, it's also one of the most poetic avowals of love for movies that I've seen in years.

Nicely acted and inflected, this is a very fresh piece of work.

Propelled by a captivating, wrenching performance by Karine Vanasse as Hanna, a 13-year-old girl adrift in a sea of powerful emotions in Montreal in 1963.

Karine Vanasse, as the protagonist Hanna, is perfectly cast because she has the body of a woman and the sweet, sexless face of a child.

Maintains a reflective, bittersweet tone that's almost tactile.

Blessedly free of candy-box prettiness, cloying gentility, and anything else that might dishonor its deeply felt, sensitively observed memoir.

A challenging concept conveyed here most impressively onscreen.

Exquisite and fragile in visuals and tone, yet has some difficulty with a choppy narrative.

A coming-of-age movie that stands apart from the rest.

Stands apart from the trite conventions of most coming-of-age drama chiefly through the originality of Pool's approach and the honesty and conviction of Karine Vanasse's portrait of Hanna.