"A crackling thriller."
— Stephen Saito, Moveable Fest
"A smartly crafted and rigorously acted plea for tolerance and compassion."
— Kevin Maher, The Times (UK)
"A harrowing and illuminating look at the violent emergence of Israel under British rule."
— Christopher Lloyd, The Film Yap
"The most politically relevant and most romatntic film in theaters now. Starshebaum and Booth make a couple of torrid, if also doomed lovers."
— James Verniere, Boston Movie News
"Winterbottom is a masterful storyteller and frequently excels at making complicated and dense situations seem manageable and less confusing."
— Steven Prokopy, Third Coast Review
"Now is as good a time as any to better understand Israel, and Michael Winterbottom may be the film-maker best placed to aid us in this understanding."
— Ellen E Jones, Observer (UK)
"Superb acting and espionage flavours carry this serviceable Winterbottom outing into a period in history that, more than ever, demands to be reckoned with."
— Hilary A White, Sunday Independent (Ireland)
"The fact that most of what the story tells us is actually true, I think gives it a kind of a real sense of bite that this relationship does become a microcosm of a much wider conflict."
— Mark Kermode, Kermode and Mayo's Take (YouTube)
"It’s a sweeping period drama, partly fact-based, that is old-fashioned in the good sense: More interested in intrigue than action (though there’s both), immaculately produced and cast."
— Dennis Harvey, 48 Hills
"A handsomely mounted period piece about a place and time in which friends were forced into becoming enemies, and Winterbottom draws an especially solid performance from his leading lady."
— Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
"The film unfolds with gentle suspense against a sumptuous backdrop (filmed along the coast of Italy, a convincing stand in for the Tel Aviv of nearly a century ago) that presents a poignant view of an elegant city on the brink of change and upheaval."
— Peg Aloi, Arts Fuse