Metacritic reviews

Outstanding, entirely unique father-son portrait.

There is nothing obvious about this subtle yet powerfully subversive look into the emotional toll and confusion of dealing with a disabled child.

Radiates a warm humanity and uplifts the spirit. Subtle rather than sentimental, it lacks easy tears though attentive viewers will find it lacerating enough.

Though it is a work of fiction, we have the sense every minute that we are watching something real, something with the unmistakable taste of life.

Kim Rossi Stuart gives an excellent performance.

If the film's redemptive ending is a fairy tale, it's one we willingly embrace.

The kind of quietly unassuming tear-jerker that works its way into your heart despite the occasional cries of protest emanating from your head.

An unusual amalgam of formulaic feel-goodism and shocking tough-mindedness, a movie that allows us to decode the inner life of its hero while he's decoding the world around him.

Even more astonishing that the superb acting is the simple fact that director Gianni Amelio has managed to craft a touching tale of a father reunited with his disabled son without the slightest whiff of sentimentality.

Both Rossi and Charlotte Rampling, as the mother of another young patient, do fine work. But the only surprises come at the end, too late to move us the way they should.