66
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80VarietyEddie CockrellVarietyEddie CockrellManaging to be at once epic and intimate, Zelary matches a resilient urban woman against a compassionate rural man in the spectacular Moravian countryside during World War II. Results rep a triumph of regional filmmaking, but in the David Lean tradition.
- 80The New York TimesDana StevensThe New York TimesDana StevensIt has a familiar, lived-in feel, and if its observations of rural life at a time of political turmoil don't feel terribly original, they are nonetheless absorbing and sometimes powerful.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranIt's a convincing romantic drama, written, directed and acted with so much skill it's able to break loose from its conventional moorings and become more effective, more moving than we anticipated.
- 75Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittWell acted, handsomely photographed, a bit too long.
- 75New York Daily NewsNew York Daily NewsZelary succeeds as moving indictment of war.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe story feels a bit more episodic as it proceeds, but for most of the two-hour running time it flows at an earthbound tempo, thanks to Trojan's assured, unobtrusive direction.
- 70The New RepublicStanley KauffmannThe New RepublicStanley KauffmannThe tension with which the picture starts soon dissipates, the contrast between Eliska's background and her present place is lost, and the film plods into a tale of village life, spiced only occasionally with a hint of German threat.
- 50New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoIt's rather sweet and life-affirming, although the transformation from sophisticate to peasant happens too conveniently and quickly.
- 40Village VoiceVillage VoiceZelary strands its protagonists in a hermetically sealed world where time runs in place. It's a feeling that viewers of this two-and-a-half-hour epic will come to know all too well.