Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott are starring in the drama “Without Ever Knowing Us” in theaters this Wednesday, February 14, 2024. But what do the critics think?
What are we watching at the cinema this week? One of the films that promises to make a big splash in cinema releases on February 14, 2024 is undoubtedly the fantasy and romantic drama Without Ever Knowing Us. Directed by Andrew Haigh, this feature film brings together Andrew Scott (Sherlock, Fleabag) and Paul Mescal (Normal People, Gladiator 2) in the cast, but also Jamie Bell and Claire Foy.
Without Ever Knowing Us tells the story of Adam, whose monotonous daily life in London is interrupted one night by his encounter with a mysterious neighbor. Their rapprochement, however, will plunge Adam back into his past and push him to return to his childhood home. There he finds his parents, who appear to be the same age as the day they died, which occurred 30 years earlier.
Without ever knowing us has generally won over critics throughout the world and in France. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the feature film is "certified fresh" with 96% positive reviews from 233 reviews, while the public gave it a positive rating of 92%. Metacritic, a professional review aggregator, determined that this film was a "must see", with a score of 90/100, based on 53 reviews listed.
French critics are generally very seduced by this fantastic and dramatic romance, the feature film obtaining a score of 3.6/5 from 18 press titles on Allociné. Cinemateaser, a specialist magazine, does not hesitate to speak of "a great film about love and its ghosts, of infinite emotion and beauty", when Le Figaro evokes "a moving story about mourning and letting go- socket". The acting performance of Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal is praised, Here emphasizing "a score whose great subtlety and complexity never alters the power of the emotions".
Among those disappointed, let's still mention Le Parisien, which criticizes the film for being "slow and sad", with "an unnecessarily convoluted form". “We get lost in an exercise in style and end up getting completely bored,” concludes the media outlet. For aVoir-aLire, the criticism is even harsher, since the media described Without Ever Knowing Us as “an indigestible fable, narrowly saved by the nuanced interpretation of Andrew Scott”. Despite these few dissonant opinions, Without Ever Knowing Us remains an essential film to discover in theaters this week.
