68
Metascore
7 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerAlthough von Trotta seems to regard von Bingen – played with a cool ferocity by Barbara Sukowa – as some sort of medieval feminist precursor, there are enough fault lines in the portrayal to subvert hagiography.
- 70Boxoffice MagazineJohn P. McCarthyBoxoffice MagazineJohn P. McCarthyAlthough its claims about Hildegard's modernity and relevancy should be taken with a grain of salt, one readily imagines Vision attracting a cross-section of the curious, not limited to feminist cinephiles and true believers.
- 70Village VoiceNick PinkertonVillage VoiceNick PinkertonVision is more immediate and immersive when dealing in the jealous attachments among sisters; when circumstance and politics tear Richardis from Hildegard, Sukowa's performance rears to towering heights of abjection.
- 70NPRElla TaylorNPRElla TaylorSo it's no surprise that this stately but inert biopic wakes up only when von Bingen becomes less of a singing-nun superstar and more of a human unglued by her own flaws.
- 70The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenVision offers a hard-headed view of 12th-century religiosity in which church politics and money conflict with the characters' asceticism. It portrays Hildegard as a passionate humanitarian and a lover of nature.
- 67Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAustin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenVon Trotta's film is informative, instructive, intriguing, and polished, yet it finds no ecstasy – religious or otherwise.
- 60Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfWriter-director Von Trotta, an icon of the New German Cinema, doesn't have the technical chops for the fireworks you desire, so she settles for wan earnestness.