69
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83The Film StageRyan SwenThe Film StageRyan SwenSimon explores the extent to which both student and juror care about film, the occasional myopia when it comes to certain advisable standards of political correctness, and the casual way in which some hilariously denigrating remarks can be made.
- 80The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyThe movie’s most provocative aspect is its near-methodical portrayal of hive-mind thinking pursued as a kind of norm — not just by the examiners, but the hopeful applicants.
- 80The New YorkerRichard BrodyThe New YorkerRichard BrodySeeing, in Simon’s documentary, the directing candidates forced to analyze a scene, submit a dossier, step on a set and direct a dictated scene, is like watching the training of hired hands rather than original artists—people better suited to writing grant applications than scripts, better suited to following orders than creating new worlds, to playing the urbane part of a director in meetings and interviews than actually being one.
- 80The Observer (UK)Simran HansThe Observer (UK)Simran HansSimon’s fly-on-the-wall mode is a distancing tool, but shouldn’t be confused with ambivalence. Exposing the mechanics of decision-making is an implicit reproof of increasing conservatism, both of La Fémis itself and the film-makers they are producing.
- 75Slant MagazineDiego SemereneSlant MagazineDiego SemereneClaire Simon knows that the best way to capture the anxiousness of a moment is to leave it unembellished.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerThe Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerIn the end, it’s hard to tell whether Simon is actually critical of her establishment’s methods or whether she fully embraces them, although she is clearly compassionate toward the applicants and offers a reasonable payoff when we finally learn who made the cut.
- 67The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThough The Competition lacks critical distance, what it offers, in spades, is the engrossing experience of watching other people endure pressure and humiliation — a thrill not unlike that of addictive reality TV, though one presumes that everyone involved would retch at the comparison.
- 67IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichWhat The Competition considers a deliciously exciting rite of passage, viewers might interpret as a kind of cultural rot. The truth likely falls somewhere in between, as Simone’s documentary is too gripping to be dismissed, and too queasy to be accepted.
- 60The GuardianLeslie FelperinThe GuardianLeslie FelperinIt’s clear that they want to run it as meritocratically as possible, but what’s interesting is how the criteria for what talent is and who gets to judge it come up for debate.
- 16The PlaylistOktay Ege KozakThe PlaylistOktay Ege KozakUnfocused and unpolished, “Le Concours” might’ve been fared better if one of the prospective students picked up the camera instead.