1917
Just Mercy
The Lighthouse
Dare Me
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French director André Téchiné successfully weaves five gripping stories in an engaging and realistic film about the early days of the AIDS epidemic.
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All Critics (48) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (42) | Rotten (6)
Excitingly convoluted. Oct 18, 2008
Excitingly convoluted.
David Edelstein
Techine's graceful, forceful drama has the tact not to play narrative games with its subject. Oct 18, 2008 | Rating: 3.5/4
Techine's graceful, forceful drama has the tact not to play narrative games with its subject.
Michael Phillips
André Téchiné's film features a strong ensemble cast. The film pulls no punches in its depiction of lives in crisis. Jul 16, 2008 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
André Téchiné's film features a strong ensemble cast. The film pulls no punches in its depiction of lives in crisis.
V.A. Musetto
The Witnesses doesn't pay off with a great operatic pinnacle, but it's better that way. Better to show people we care about facing facts they care desperately about, without the consolation of plot mechanics. May 16, 2008 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
The Witnesses doesn't pay off with a great operatic pinnacle, but it's better that way. Better to show people we care about facing facts they care desperately about, without the consolation of plot mechanics.
Roger Ebert
In The Witnesses, [director] Techine levels his gaze on the '80s, an era of seeming innocence, perhaps license, and one in which biological freedom has led to a loose, even sloppily knit fabric of humanity. Mar 13, 2008 | Full Review…
In The Witnesses, [director] Techine levels his gaze on the '80s, an era of seeming innocence, perhaps license, and one in which biological freedom has led to a loose, even sloppily knit fabric of humanity.
John Anderson
What the characters in The Witnesses -- and the audience -- pay testimony to in André Téchiné's urgent, compassionate, and ultimately optimistic French drama are the toll the epidemic has rung, and the responsibility of the living to choose life. Feb 20, 2008 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…
What the characters in The Witnesses -- and the audience -- pay testimony to in André Téchiné's urgent, compassionate, and ultimately optimistic French drama are the toll the epidemic has rung, and the responsibility of the living to choose life.
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Though the specter of HIV/AIDS looms over the second part of the film once Manu is diagnosed, it wisely doesn't take over the latter part of it. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it was a few years before the epidemic first hit France. Sep 15, 2019 | Full Review…
Though the specter of HIV/AIDS looms over the second part of the film once Manu is diagnosed, it wisely doesn't take over the latter part of it. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it was a few years before the epidemic first hit France.
Alexander Ryll
The Witnesses has an emotional maturity that adds richness to its social observation. Apr 28, 2011 | Full Review…
The Witnesses has an emotional maturity that adds richness to its social observation.
Kelly Vance
Best when it turns from bed-hopping into a docudrama, but its effort to personalize the AIDS crisis is not emotionally convincing as the characters lose their individuality. Dec 14, 2008 | Rating: 5/10 | Full Review…
Best when it turns from bed-hopping into a docudrama, but its effort to personalize the AIDS crisis is not emotionally convincing as the characters lose their individuality.
Nora Lee Mandel
A somber look back, and for Americans, a view from somewhere else of a time that might have been just recently forgotten. Oct 18, 2008 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
A somber look back, and for Americans, a view from somewhere else of a time that might have been just recently forgotten.
Jonathan W. Hickman
Lots of gab, a little flesh flashing, more gab, and not much action or momentum. French Kissing, Brokeback Mountain style. Jun 21, 2008 | Full Review…
Lots of gab, a little flesh flashing, more gab, and not much action or momentum. French Kissing, Brokeback Mountain style.
Prairie Miller
The first 80 minutes or so are really good, but then the movie goes on for about a half hour longer than it needs to. Jun 18, 2008 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…
The first 80 minutes or so are really good, but then the movie goes on for about a half hour longer than it needs to.
Austin Kennedy
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