Carlos Marañón Cinemanía (Spain) Nov 4, 2020 2/5

Intersecting stories of heartbreak and loneliness seen a thousand times. [Full review in Spanish]

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Ellie Lucas The Dispatch (Lexington, NC) Jun 6, 2019 3/4

It is a beautifully crafted work, with lovely cinematography by Eric Gautier and a sharp screenplay by Jean-Michel Ribes, that finds hope in a world where life doesn't always work out the way it was planned.

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Ben Kenigsberg Time Out Nov 17, 2011 3/5

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Fernando F. Croce CinePassion Aug 27, 2009

A graceful roundelay of disconnection

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Glenn Kenny Premiere Magazine Jan 4, 2008 4/4

What makes Private Fears so extraordinary is not just how it completely upends the expectations that have come to seem inherent in such a structure, but how Resnais constantly pushes the boundaries of his, well, let's call it visual depiction.

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Jennie Kermode Eye for Film Dec 7, 2007 4.5/5

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Urban Cinefile Critics Urban Cinefile Nov 30, 2007

There is a different side to everyone in Alain Resnais' enigmatic film about six strangers whose Parisian lives randomly intersect.

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Desson Thomson Washington Post Oct 27, 2007

What reaches us, most of all, are the hidden, unmet longings that keep the film's Parisian characters from finding true happiness.

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Tim Brayton Antagony & Ecstasy Sep 12, 2007 9/10

A gentle look at the pain of loneliness that almost all of us feel from time to time.

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Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Sep 7, 2007 A-

A feast for the eyes.

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Steven Rea Philadelphia Inquirer Aug 4, 2007 1.5/4

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Rich Cline Shadows on the Wall Jul 20, 2007 3.5/5

Warm and wry, funny and sad, cute and complicated.

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Nick Funnell Little White Lies Jul 20, 2007

Not one he'll be remembered for, but a cut above.

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Stuart McGurk thelondonpaper Jul 20, 2007 3/5

While there's a quirky humour at work, the overall mood is of sadness, eloquently, if repetitively, expressed.

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Derek Malcolm London Evening Standard Jul 20, 2007 4/5

Private Fears is so fluently made that its edginess only gradually becomes evident. It's both funny and sad, without underlining anything, and the playing is as good as you would expect from Resnais's regulars.

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Anthony Quinn Independent (UK) Jul 20, 2007

Ayckbourn's play might have made frothy fun of this comedie humaine, on screen this feels a poor, airless thing.

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Tim Robey Daily Telegraph (UK) Jul 20, 2007

No one would argue that this slight six-hander is one of Resnais's greatest movies, but it's far from an embarrassment, and even its strained comic business is enclosed within a prevailing atmosphere of wistful resignation.

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Peter Bradshaw Guardian Jul 20, 2007 2/5

Neither comic, nor tragic, nor tragicomic, the movie manages to be entirely inconsequential, gesturing at emotional truths which it is quite unable to embody.

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James Christopher The Times (UK) Jul 20, 2007 3/5

Although now well into his eighties, Resnais brings an elegance and lightness of touch to this romantic roundelay - it's not the most profound musing on life and love, but it's eminently watchable.

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Tom Dawson BBC.com Jul 20, 2007 4/5

Beautifully judged ensemble pieces.

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