Synopsis
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
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Cast
- Kaya ScodelarioEmanuel
- Jessica BielLinda
- Alfred MolinaDennis
- Frances O'ConnorJanice
- Jimmi SimpsonArthur
- Aneurin BarnardClaude
- Sam JaegerThomas
- Jonathan SchmockSam
- Spencer GarrettOfficer Ted
- Kevin McCorkleOfficer Watson
Recommendations
- 70
Village Voice
Despite the psychological extremes, writer-director Francesca Gregorini presents her characters as recognizably human balls of complexity, nudging but never forcing them toward a sad, beautiful conclusion. - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
Although Gregorini is very clear on where her lead characters are coming from, it’s where they’re headed that remains entirely vague, an oversight that leaves them unfortunately adrift. - 50
The Dissolve
With a radically different tone and less naturalistic performances, The Truth About Emanuel might conceivably have worked. Gregorini didn’t commit to the synthetic; paradoxically, that’s what makes the film feel false. - 50
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
They waste this cast and these characters on a story so conventional, so neatly wrapped up in the finale, that the real mystery is how Gregorini and co-writer Sarah Thorpe didn’t see that. - 50
Salon
The film has an odd and striking energy, and the chemistry between Scodelario and Biel has an electrical charge to it. There are a couple of genuinely creepy moments, and Gregorini keeps us on an emotional knife edge. - 42
The Playlist
There are shades of “Lars & the Real Girl” here, but where that film skewed towards dark comedy (which helped temper its outlandish premise), "Emanuel" is almost completely humorless. - 42
The A.V. Club
Unable to create emotional tension, it instead opts for obliqueness — which can be tantalizing, but only if there’s something worthwhile hidden underneath. In this case, there isn’t. Instead, the movie comes across as evasive, repetitive, and, eventually, more than a little dull. - 40
Variety
Played flatly head-on with some poetic pretensions, the concept never becomes particularly credible or appealing.
