Synopsis
The story frames on 7-year-old Maisie, caught in a custody battle between her mother – a rock and roll icon – and her father. What Maisie Knew is an evocative portrayal of the chaos of adult life seen entirely from a child’s point of view.
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Cast
- Julianne MooreSusanna
- Steve CooganBeale
- Alexander SkarsgårdLincoln
- Joanna VanderhamMargo
- Onata AprileMaisie
- Diana GarcíaCecilia
- Sadie RaeZoe
- Jesse Stone SpadacciniMartin
- Amelia CampbellMs. Baine
- Maddie CormanMs. Fairchild-Tetenbaum
Recommendations
- 100
Observer
Acutely observed, subtly but sharply written and expertly acted. - 100
The New York Times
What Maisie Knew lays waste to the comforting dogma that children are naturally resilient, and that our casual, unthinking cruelty to them can be answered by guilty and belated displays of affection. It accomplishes this not by means of melodrama, but by a mixture of understatement and thriller-worthy suspense. - 80
The Guardian
The adults' behaviour is almost as confusing for us as it is for her. It's a neat trick that reminds us these weighty adult issues are both life-changing and, in the moment, somewhat insignificant to someone Maisie's age. - 75
Rolling Stone
Cartwright, find something sadly timeless in a child torn apart in a custody battle that no one wins, least of all the child. - 67
The A.V. Club
If the idea is for the audience to feel similarly yanked around, then What Maisie Knew succeeds wildly, but it fails to bring much insight to what essentially amounts to a massive parental guilt trip. - 60
Time Out
Young Aprile is a real find, investing what might have been a symbolic part with a visible sense of craft and patience (this isn’t merely cute-kid cinema), but it would be a shame not to mention the risks taken by Moore and Coogan, pushing difficult parts into daring registers of irresponsibility. - 60
Village Voice
The film is admirably committed to simulating the messy experience of life as a real Maisie might live it. But sometimes, as she's tuckered out on her exquisite linens beneath gorgeous exposed brick and shelves of handcrafted toys, Maisie's world feels easier to admire than it is to worry over. - 50
Entertainment Weekly
In this bleak indie bummer that confuses hopelessness with depth, they're really nothing more than selfish, one-dimensional monsters. Maisie's better off without them.
