93% Barbara

All Critics (43) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (40) | Rotten (3)

[Leaves] you drained and horrified.

Sometimes, the sun shines and the wind blows fresh and the very elements that make for intense hardship also open a window on intense joy.

Hoss is mesmerizing as a woman who holds it all together to the point of losing herself.

It's one terrific film, as smart, thoughtful and emotionally involving as just about anything that's out there.

It's a quiet film built of careful details.

"Barbara" re-visits the quiet, everyday tragedies of the Iron Curtain era, when paranoia ran deep and for very good reasons.

Despite the limited scope of its predictable narrative, "Barbara" remains a compelling character study thanks to Nina Hoss's enigmatic performance in the title role.

Christian Petzold's latest thriller threatens to cross over the line from minimalism to nihilism.

Both insightful and poignant, but not mawkish...an intriguing character study set against the backdrop of a dark time in history.

The plotting, the planning and the deepening relationships don't make for kinetic action, but they are the foundation for a smart, engrossing film.

Hoss' acting is a marvel of subtlety; her body language is precisely calibrated to reveal a great deal about the character's inner feelings by the slightest changes of posture and facial expression.

...a slow building character study where looks and actions speak louder than words because of an oppressive political climate.

Barbara is Hoss' fifth film with Petzold, and the movie rests on the depth and subtlety of their working relationship.

An intimate meditation on freedom set in East Germany at the end of the Cold War, but this time, it's personal.

Somehow, in this stirring narrative, Barbara manages to keep hold of her principles, and her humanity and courage, and battles to save a dissident teenage girl whose life the Communists are trying to destroy.

No special effect this year comes close to what Hoss can accomplish with simple but unbearably explosive eye contact.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/barbara_2012/

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