66
Metascore
24 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88New York PostJohnny OleksinskiNew York PostJohnny OleksinskiThe actress is absolute bliss in her new Italian drama, The Life Ahead.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySlipping into the flavorful Neapolitan accent of her early years, Loren creates a warm-blooded, grounded character, whose feistiness ebbs slowly as the ravages of age, ill health and painful memory take hold. It's a lovely performance, full of pathos, from an esteemed actress whose wealth of experience illuminates this touching human drama.
- 80ABC NewsPeter TraversABC NewsPeter TraversGet out your handkerchiefs. Directed by her son Edoardo Ponti, Sophia Loren, 86, returns to the screen after a decade to play a Holocaust survivor who raises the children of prostitutes. There is not a single false note in Loren’s magnificent performance. Just sit back and behold.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperChicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperWhile it is unabashedly sentimental and at times goes over the top with the symbolic melodramatic devices, it is a beautifully shot and heartwarming film, and the 86-year-old Loren is magnificent and regal and fierce and funny and beautiful and screen-commanding throughout.
- 63The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzUltimately, Ponti’s film survives on the one surprise that’s not much of a surprise at all: the power and majesty of his lead actress. And how did the director score such a casting coup? You’d have to ask his mother ... Sophia Loren.
- 63Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MoorePairing Loren up with a child with this much spark, acting-up and acting-out, proves to be a winning formula for the film.
- 63Slant MagazineChris BarsantiSlant MagazineChris BarsantiWith its tough-minded characters from divergent cultures finding a common bond despite their differences, the film doesn’t deliver much in the way of surprises, but it turns out to be a starker and more honest piece of work than it might initially seem.
- 60VarietyGuy LodgeVarietyGuy LodgeThe film, modest and often maudlin on its own storytelling terms, runs on a current of beyond-the-screen devotion that makes it compelling. Without that unquantifiable x-factor presence in the frame, it’s hard to say what reason this Netflix release would really have for being.
- 60Screen DailyTim GriersonScreen DailyTim GriersonPonti fills this adaptation of the Romain Gary novel with an abundance of empathy, illustrating how all of us are nursing invisible psychic wounds, but the execution is so gauzy it never quite connects.