A drama centered on the friendship between two young women who grew up in the same orphanage; one has found refuge at a convent in Romania and refuses to leave with her friend, who now lives in Germany.
If you long for the bleak intelligence of an Ingmar Bergman film, where humankind is deeply flawed and God is indifferently silent and the landscape is cloaked in perpetual winter, then Beyond the Hills promises to be your cup of despair.
– Rick Groen,
Globe and Mail,
29 Mar 2013
fresh:
It's an enigmatic and austere film from a region where political, sexual and religious repression are as stifling as the sooty air.
– Joe Williams,
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
4 Apr 2013
fresh:
It is a haunting movie, dealing with superstitions, possession, even exorcism, one in which Mungiu poses no easy answers, because there are none to be found.
– Bill Goodykoontz,
Arizona Republic,
4 Apr 2013
fresh:
"Beyond the Hills" seethes with astonishment and rage at a broken society marooned between the 21st century and the 16th.
– Ty Burr,
Boston Globe,
4 Apr 2013
fresh:
The final shot, with windshield wipers struggling to clean away a torrent of muddy water, suggests that no human agency is great enough to handle this world's misery.