Sødahl's loose, eavesdropping style helps to convey both the highs and lows in an intimate way that never feels forced or gratuitous, making for a film that is bold, unusual and even, at times, uplifting.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 7, 2023

A deeply affecting relationship drama anchored by two unforgettable performances.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 17, 2022

Though the set-up might still seem a contrived excuse for drama, the characters are believable. Hovig and Skarsgard are both excellent.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 12, 2021

You take nothing for granted in this honest, beautiful movie, which never strays into sentimental terminal-romance territory and is shot by Lars von Trier's regular DP Manuel Alberto Claro.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 10, 2021

Hope is a sublime piece of filmmaking.

| Dec 10, 2021

A powerful and empathetic film about living.

| Dec 9, 2021

Hovig and Skarsgård are both very good.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 7, 2021

A cleverly forensic study of a long-lasting but rather stale relationship, and the effect on it of terminal illness.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 3, 2021

Just like the emotion of the title, 'Hope' can hurt.

| Sep 14, 2021

There is a languid way Sødahl films the scenes, which show her comfort with silences & trust in the performers, that allows an authenticity rarely seen in stories about disease and death.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jun 27, 2021

Norway may be the world's happiest country, but this film, full of insight, shows that some individual Norwegians do not share in the joy.

| Original Score: B | May 2, 2021

...the desperation and occasional despair the film so compassionately reveals does not overcome the too steady pacing. Therefore the sentiments do not truly linger. But still there is love here and because of that one cannot deny the film's truth.

| Apr 26, 2021

...matters shift in surprising, emotional sways.

| Apr 23, 2021

Maria Sødahl's third film in twenty years of narrative filmmaking remains a potent example of how such despairing realities still reveal the necessity and importance of the innately human titular emotion.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 23, 2021

The final scenes of the movie are beautiful, enchanting even: Sodahl's screenplay is, in that Scandinavian way, clipped and delicate, but the images say everything.

| Apr 22, 2021

The movie offers hope to its characters but, even more affectingly, to us.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 22, 2021

There are no gimmicks or twists to be found here - just a straightforward terminal illness drama that allows genuine emotions to shine through in every interaction.

| Original Score: B | Apr 22, 2021

Andrea Bræin Hovig and Stellan Skarsgard are transcendent.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 22, 2021

Hope is not an easy film; its emotions are ragged and raw and unvarnished by the Hollywood sheen that so often covers films about lovers facing impending tragedy.

| Apr 21, 2021

This is a very well-acted, well-written Norwegian drama... Clear-eyed, insightful, and heartfelt.

| Apr 21, 2021