critics consensus

A message movie admirable for its subtlety as well as its execution, The Perfect Candidate faces oppression and powerfully advocates for change. Read critic reviews

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The Perfect Candidate Videos

The Perfect Candidate: Trailer 1

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Movie Info

When Maryam, a hardworking young doctor in a small-town clinic, is prevented from flying to Dubai for a conference without a male guardian's approval, she seeks help from a politically connected cousin but inadvertently registers as a candidate for the municipal council. Maryam sees the election as a way to fix the muddy road in front of her clinic, but her campaign slowly garners broader appeal.

Genre:

drama
Original Language:

Arabic
Director:

Haifaa Al-Mansour
Producer:

Haifaa Al-Mansour, Gerhard Meixner, Brad Niemann, Roman Paul
Writer:

Haifaa Al-Mansour, Brad Niemann
Release Date (Theaters):

May 14, 2021 limited
Release Date (Streaming):

May 10, 2021
Box Office (Gross USA):

$26.7K
Runtime:

1h 41m
Production Co:

Al Mansour Est. for Audiovisual Media, NDR, Razor Film Produktion GmbH
Aspect Ratio:

Scope (2.35:1)

Cast & Crew

Mila Al Zahrani
Dr. Maryam Alsafan

Dae Al Hilali
Selma

Nora Al Awadh
Sara

Khalid Abdulraheem
Abdulaziz

Shafi Alharthy
Mohammed

Tareq Al Khaldi
Omar

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for The Perfect Candidate

All Critics (78) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (72) | Rotten (6)

It really liked it. It's not a doom and gloom movie -- it's about "how can you use your influence?"

May 21, 2021 | Full Review…

Amy Nicholson
FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
What I appreciated about this was the subtleties -- she's doing things in small victories.

May 21, 2021 | Full Review…

Claudia Puig
FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
Mansour gives audiences a candid, often wryly amusing glimpse of life inside the Saudi kingdom, which is so often cloaked in opacity and menace.

May 19, 2021 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
The Perfect Candidate lacks a distinct visual grammar ... but as a film that recognizes the giant strides small wins can make for women, it feels significant.

May 14, 2021 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…

Tomris Laffly
RogerEbert.com
The pleasure of the film rests not in the plot, which is so placid as to be anti-dramatic, but in the minutiae; as ever, Al Mansour homes in on the everyday workings of condescension and conformity.

May 14, 2021 | Full Review…

Anthony Lane
New Yorker
Most of the value in this film comes from the peek it gives us into life as a Saudi woman - a life that is changing, Al-Mansour points out, albeit too slowly for some.

May 13, 2021 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…

Jocelyn Noveck
Associated Press
Avoiding melodrama and the well-worn tropes of "woman taking on a man's world" stories, director Haifaa Al-Mansour and co-writer Brad Niemann immerse us in a culture that might be evolving from a Kafkaesque nightmare into a milder Kafkaesque bad dream.

June 10, 2021 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Roger Moore
Movie Nation
[Haifaa al-Mansour's] connection to her home country shows - there's a familiarity to al-Mansour's lens.

June 7, 2021 | Full Review…

Sadaf Ahsan
Nashville Scene
Even if Al-Mansour plays to an audience she knows is already on her side, The Perfect Candidate is still telling a story that ought to be told.

June 6, 2021 | Full Review…

Calum Reed
In Review Online
Director Haifaa Al-Mansour once again explores the complexities of being a woman (or girl) in Saudi Arabia through a charmingly direct and confident main character who subverts the status quo.

June 2, 2021 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Sandie Angulo Chen
Common Sense Media
Al Mansour, who also co-wrote the script for The Perfect Candidate, depicts the strength of family bonds in reversing the small cruelties Maryam is subject to, at the same time gently taking men to task for their absence and neglect.

June 1, 2021 | Full Review…

Maria Garcia
A Woman's Picture
The Perfect Candidate is a low-key charmer that manages to accomplish something that might seem otherwise impossible these days: it makes you feel slightly -- slightly -- optimistic about the contemporary political process.

June 1, 2021 | Full Review…

Peter Sobczynski
eFilmCritic.com