Mary Magdalene

"The much-delayed arrival of a new cinematic Mary Magdalene could not be more appropriate. For this woke zeitgeist, it’s something to be embraced: the revisioning of a key biblical figure, too regularly marginalised in popular culture as the repentant holy harlot, from a more progressive, humanist perspective. That it was once a hot ticket for its scandal-ravaged US distributor The Weinstein Company adds an unavoidable, uneasy layer of irony to the whole project."

"Hushed, deliberate and realised with considerable care and beauty, the resulting film has its heart entirely in the right place; its pulse, unfortunately, is far harder to locate."

"It ripples with interesting ideas, but the overall effect is glassy and inert, with Rooney Mara's Mary an oddly elusive presence in the film that carries her name."

"Jesus is a stoner Messiah, with his woozy delivery and Kris Kristofferson beard."

"It goes straight for the forehead: it is a brow-furrower and a temple-rubber, best mulled over at a remove."

"Sets itself a bold task: to rescue Mary Magdalene from an age-old tradition of patriarchal condescension and misinterpretation. And yet it winds up embracing a solemn, softly-spoken and slow-moving Christian piety of its own."

"A refreshing film, expertly made and acted."

"Although a rather elegant and serene interpretation of an eternal story, this film has little new or interesting to offer either to believers or non-believers."

"An interesting new take on a very well-known tale and a praiseworthy act of revisionism, but one which doesn't ultimately deliver on its early promise."