Andrew Sarris, NEW YORK OBSERVER
"DELICIOUSLY SUBVERSIVE!
Julie Bertuccelli's Since Otar Left has deservedly won many international awards for its dynamic depiction of the heartrending love shared by a grandmother, mother and granddaughter after a tragedy strikes from afar."
Read the whole reviewLisa Schwarzbaum, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
"A-! SUPERB FAMILY DRAMA!"Lou Lumenick, THE NEW YORK POST
"All three actresses are wonderful, but...the best actress currently on New York screens is Esther Gorintin, a 90-year-old Pole who provides the emotional center for Julie Bertucelli's delicate, bittersweet comedy-drama."
Read the whole reviewJan Stuart, NEWSDAY
"Esther Gorintin is unforgettable in Julie Bertuccelli's jewel of a family drama."
Read the whole reviewDavid Sterritt, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
"4 STARS (highest rating).Everything about this subtly directed drama enhances its pathos and humor, especially an astonishing performance by Gorintin, a 90-something woman only a few years into her acting career."Michael Atkinson, THE VILLAGE VOICE
"The filmmaker and her cast...work hard at fashioning the most outlandish special effect of all: believable human life."
Read the whole reviewStephen Holden, THE NEW YORK TIMES
"BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND ACTED!"
Read the whole reviewJ. Hoberman, THE VILLAGE VOICE
"Documentary filmmaker Julie Bertuccelli's impeccably shot first feature-set in Tblisi with a mixed cast of French, Russian, and Georgian actors-is a sweet, accomplished fable of loss and self-deception in the post-Soviet world. It's also an effective mother-daughter-granddaughter drama featuring the amazing Esther Gorintin."Frank Scheck, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
"Almost unbearably moving at times, Julie Betuccelli's simple but sublime debut feature presents a portrait of maternal love and female fortitude that will reduce the stoniest of viewers to tears."
Read the whole reviewDavid Stratton, VARIETY
"Julie Bertuccelli's very beautiful first feature is suffused with indelible humanist values and emotions. An extremely touching story of three generations of Georgian women coping with tragedy and loss, the film is traditionally and effectively made; it also is superbly acted. Since Otar Left has the great advantage of a very well-written and constructed screenplay and a trio of sublime performances. Actress Khomassouridze confidently carries out the difficult task of suggesting a middle-aged woman's unfulfilled past and the gloomy future she faces. Russian actress Droukarova is equally good as the youthful Ada, an intelligent and well-educated girl who obviously feels constrained by her life in Tbilisi but who adores her grandmother. Best of all is 90-year-old Polish-born Gorintin, whose Eka is a sublime creation. Feisty and tenacious, she doesn't allow old age to constrain her in the least. Though politically conservative, she has great depths of reserves, and the scenes in Paris in which she searches for her son are highly charged emotionally Few will be unmoved by this universally applicable tale."
