Metacritic Movie Ratings
Something in the Air Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 100

  out of 100

  VarietyJustin Chang

  Decidedly not revolutionary cinema, Something in the Air instead quietly demystifies its subject. The tone of the piece is wryly affectionate but never indulgent; the experiences depicted feel emotionally true and lived-in without ever catching the viewer up in a rush of intoxication or excitement.

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• 100

  out of 100

  Village VoiceStephanie Zacharek

  In Something in the Air, that past—a version of Assayas's own—is rendered in visuals so specific and evocative, it's perpetually alive.

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• 100

  out of 100

  The Hollywood ReporterDavid Rooney

  This is a beautifully crafted work and an acute evocation of its period both in look and attitude, and it’s no less deeply absorbing for being somewhat muted in tone.

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• 90

  out of 100

  Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey

  Assayas has such a steady hand as a director, he knows precisely how to let all of Gilles' inner angst play out. His nostalgia for those past days can be felt in the affection and forgiving way the indiscretions of youth are portrayed.

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• 75

  out of 100

  Chicago Sun-TimesJim Emerson

  Assayas looks back on the values and priorities of the time with a vision that’s both wry and tender.

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• 75

  out of 100

  Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips

  Something in the Air, is the latest screen portrait of an artist as a young man. It's a good one too, rich and assured, even if writer-director Olivier Assayas is more successful at creating atmosphere than at making his romanticized younger self a three-dimensional being.

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• 70

  out of 100

  Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern

  Too bad it isn't more engaging — and dramatic — than it is, but this new film, in French with English subtitles, is still worth seeing for what it says of the turbulent state of France in the early 1970s, when Mr. Assayas was a high-school student in Paris, and of the zigzag pursuit—of painting, beautiful girls and independence from a demanding father—that finally culminated in his becoming the filmmaker he was meant to be.

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