75
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91The PlaylistNick SchagerThe PlaylistNick SchagerThe use of the actress’ own archival material in 'In Her Own Words' results in a tribute to both her titanic career, and to her belief in the movies’ capacity to safeguard the past, and to maintain it long after its makers are gone.
- 80Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWall Street JournalJoe MorgensternShe is revealed in all her complexity by Mr. Björkman’s film, in which passages from his subject’s letters, notes and diaries are read by the fine young Swedish actress Alicia Vikander. “I don’t demand much,” the film quotes her as saying. “I just want everything.” She got a lot, and gave immeasurably more.
- 80Village VoiceSam WeisbergVillage VoiceSam Weisberg[A] vivid and enlightening documentary.
- 75Slant MagazineElise NakhnikianSlant MagazineElise NakhnikianIt highlights the potent dichotomies that, combined with Bergman's relatively unmediated beauty, made the actress luminescent both on and off screen.
- 75New York PostFarran Smith NehmeNew York PostFarran Smith NehmeThere isn’t a lot here about her films, or great performances, but this is two hours of Ingrid Bergman, much of it rarely seen before. I’m not about to complain.
- 70The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisPart of what makes In Her Own Words so pleasurable is that it’s so insistently celebratory, despite the traumas and hurts that trickle in. To that upbeat end, it tends to soften and even elide some of the thornier passages in Bergman’s life.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungThe Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungThe portrait that emerges is intimate — perhaps too intimate for film lovers who might have preferred to hear more about the star’s working methods, and fewer details about her husbands and kids.
- 63Washington PostAnn HornadayWashington PostAnn HornadayAs a family-approved document, In Her Own Words is celebratory rather than probing, critical or comprehensive.
- 60VarietyJay WeissbergVarietyJay WeissbergThe lack of any significant investigation into performance styles is acutely felt, particularly given the very different methods of her major directors.