This is a story that needed to be told, and I am glad I had the chance to discover who Charlotte Salomon was. However, she also deserved a better film than this.

| Original Score: C- | May 21, 2024

It's certainly strong material, and many of Salomon's bold, expressionist artworks are recreated on screen. However, the rest of the film feels reined-in and too conventional by comparison.

| Mar 23, 2023

Uses animation effectively to tell the dramatic story of German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon (1927 – 1943) to appeal to a wide audience of adults. Script emphasizes the romantic and emotional inspirations in her life, more than other interpretations.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Jan 19, 2023

While the soft pastel backdrops are rather lovely, the film seems cocooned by design in its own prettiness, doing little to illustrate the encroaching darkness.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 15, 2022

Though somewhat flawed and less artistically daring than it could be, Charlotte still makes for an emotional, humane viewing experience.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 14, 2022

It can’t fail to be moving and deeply painful, though the rather conventional, pastel-hued, 2D animation is somewhat at odds with Salomon’s vibrant Expressionistic style and the terrible events themselves

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 13, 2022

Charlotte tells a vital, urgent story, but it tells it in all the wrong ways. It lacks focus, and we never really learn much about Charlotte herself.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 12, 2022

Tahir Rana and Éric Warin make provocative storytelling choices, consistently accentuating the political darkness around Salomon with a festering sense of familial unease.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 9, 2022

A sobering animated biopic...

| Dec 9, 2022

An imperfect yet compelling overview of Charlotte’s life.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 8, 2022

This is an absorbingly told story; Knightley’s vocal performance is engaging and Charlotte’s face, in particular, is strongly and expressively drawn.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 7, 2022

The animation is merely passable, never achieving the beauty of Charlotte’s own art, and it runs into the common biopic issue of being more a sequence of events rather than a propulsive narrative.

| Aug 17, 2022

The full-length animated feature traces Charlotte Salomon’s life from her teens as an art student in Berlin, through her escape to France, and her eventual capture and murder. The treatment is sensitive and affectionate, a sweet tribute to a tragic life.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Jul 22, 2022

‘Charlotte’ states its thesis clearly enough early on. You can’t expect life to love you. Rather, you have to choose to love life.

| Jul 21, 2022

Even if its style or structure isn't ever as subversive as its leading star, Charlotte's sentiment continually rings true, and it proves to be profusely affecting, mainly thanks to the emotional efforts of a universally committed voice cast.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jul 14, 2022

Though the story is challenging, it is so enveloped in incredible visuals that you won’t turn away.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 2, 2022

Charlotte — bold, colorful, vibrating with life — is a fitting memorial to an indomitable spirit

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 27, 2022

A tragic reminder that fleeing a nightmare may mean more than just keeping it in your rearview mirror.

| May 12, 2022

Charlotte fails to truly depict the famed artist’s work and pain. It may just be that no other artist can tell Salomon’s story better than she already did.

| May 5, 2022

The story is appallingly, almost unrelentingly sad, but it's also inspiring, and the animation is beautiful.

| Apr 29, 2022