Félix et Meira 2015

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Tender, heartfelt and exquisitely dull, the drama "Felix and Meira" illustrates the perils of trying to tell an emotional love story with meaningful stares and long pauses. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Though set in present-day Montreal, this tender romance unfolds like an episode from another century, paying the sort of careful attention to social boundaries you'd expect to find in a classic forbidden-love novel. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: Felix & Meira eventually proves to have more in common with Fill The Void, and with Burshtein's effort to depict Orthodox Judaism as more than just a women's prison, than it had appeared. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Giroux's refusal to pass judgment on his characters prevents us from doing so, and the film is much more powerful for it. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: When is an image held for too long? At what point does a shot's duration outlast its emotional information? As ardent and earnest as it is, "Felix and Meira" is a test case. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This is the sort of movie whose warmth toward its characters is contagious. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: It's always gratifying to see a movie in which an ostensibly closed-off community is depicted humanely rather than voyeuristically. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Delicate, warm and worried, "Felix and Meira" is a coming-of-age film about two grown people stunted by social circumstance. Read more

Joe McGovern, Entertainment Weekly: Giroux mistakes long, wordless scenes of characters gazing at each other for tenderness, but he imaginatively uses gospel music as the forbidden food of love ... Read more

Boyd van Hoeij, Hollywood Reporter: Yaron is a luminous presence whose face is mesmerizing even if it isn't always readable. Read more

Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times: Luzer Twersky as Shulem, Meira's controlling husband, is a fine example of the film's willingness to extend empathy to all of its characters, and its refusal to pigeonhole them into a black and white moral landscape. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: The result is not the most explosive -- nor organic -- romance. Still, it swirls and settles in interesting ways. Read more

Ella Taylor, NPR: What's missing here is the vitality and sense of release the couple's romance should bring. Felix and Meira continue to pine and mope; the movie mopes with them in exhausting, often awkwardly intrusive detail. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, New York Daily News: "Felix and Meira" is tender and sad, and wonderfully shot in snowy Quebec, but ultimately fails to connect. It's such a gentle whisper of a film, it's hard to hear what it wants to say. Read more

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: This tenderly observed love story (by the director, Maxime Giroux) isn't about religion - or its lack - but about the attraction of difference and the undeniable need to feel alive. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: [A] quiet, aching film ... Read more

Matthew Lickona, San Diego Reader: Director Maxime Giroux gets good performances from leads Martin Dubreuil and Hadas Yaron...But the romantic mood is asked to cover for too much left unsaid, unasked, and undone. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: A viewer can be forgiven for violent eye-rolling. Read more

Leba Hertz, San Francisco Chronicle: "Felix and Meira" appears to be a simple movie about fitting in, acceptance and sacrifice. Yet it's so elegant and poses many different sides that it's actually a very complex film with very complex characters. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Felix and Meira" raises the question: Are we happiest with a twin spirit - or with a reverse image that completes the picture? Read more

David Ehrlich, Time Out: A broadly moving portrait of the various roles that faith can play in a relationship. Read more

Serena Donadoni, Village Voice: Offers compassion over certainty, even when circumstances call for an all-or-nothing commitment to a happily ever after. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: There's a subtext to this love story that seems to say we're all islands, in one way or another. Read more