The Broken Circle Breakdown never pulls punches when it comes to telling the complex realities of life that exist in the films story.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 31, 2021

Unrelentingly bleak, but grittily beautiful stuff. Wonderful live music sequences sweeten an otherwise uncompromising deal.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 8, 2020

The often emotional and heartbreaking lyrics of several numbers are a testament to the film's ability to transcend tastes and styles.

| Aug 29, 2019

As for everything else, The Broken Circle Breakdown is a well-made but ultimately ineffective film.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Jun 22, 2019

The pairing of the highly emotive plot with the delicacy of the structure and editing transforms a devastating series of calamities into an exquisite and poignant exploration of the limitations of love in the face of tragedy.

| Mar 20, 2019

Van Groeningen's masterful use of music guides the emotional direction of a scene in a way that rarely feels exploitative. Where the film scores highest, however, is with the central performances of its two leads.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 5, 2019

A seamless edit effectively melds the story's past joy and present sorrow to emphasise its tragic outcome.

| Feb 28, 2019

The Broken Circle Breakdown is emotionally raw and captivating.

| Feb 20, 2019

THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN is a heart-wrenching tale and the cinematic equivalent of a twangy country song.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 6, 2018

Clear your head of any awkward preconceptions and prepare for a wild emotional ride that takes you from the heights of amorous passion to the depths of despair, its terrific music serving as both hum-dinging entertainment and ultimately as healing force.

| Jan 2, 2018

"The Broken Circle Breakdown" is a good movie, just not a great one.

| Sep 16, 2017

A significant amount of redemption arrives in its final moments, which find a way to bind itself with the heart of the picture we've been observing for nearly two hours.

| Original Score: B- | Jun 22, 2016

Constantly you worry that the movie will collapse under the strain of more raw emotions but it rarely falters and never lapses into the predictable or the sentimental.

| Jun 14, 2016

Fragmented and raw. A wrenching drama.

| May 5, 2015

More so than its music, Broken Circle's greatest merit are the compelling performances Van Groeningen cultivates from both his leads.

| Original Score: 7.5/10 | Aug 18, 2014

I wish the patience and grace of the director's techniques in the film's strongest non-musical moments were matched in his depictions of the amazing music on display.

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 2, 2014

It's a film about a couple whose tumultuous relationship is severely challenged, and the performances are excellent.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 19, 2014

Where the Coen brothers gently mocked th[e] music in O Brother Where art Thou?, this plucky little Belgian film reconnects that music to the sorrows that produced it. Just brilliant.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | May 19, 2014

There are plenty of touching, powerful moments in director Felix Van Groeningen's child-with-cancer drama...though [it's] somewhat laboured. The 2012 French film Declaration of War dealt with a similar topic in more lyrical, more affecting manner.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 16, 2014

In spite of the bleak premise the film isn't an emotional force.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 13, 2014