"One of the year's best films" - Manohla Dargs, A.O. Scott, THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Hoss, wearing her blond hair pulled back tight, and wearing an expression of inscrutable melancholy, gives a performance that doesn't feel like a performance at all. Her Barbara is absolutely real, and absolutely trapped. The film is aching, and exquisite." - Philadelphia Inquirer

"A quietly gripping thriller. A riveting performance" - Mark Olsen, The LOS ANGLES TIMES

"Petzold is a master at creating the kind of tension that can be felt on a subterranean level, a sort of acute uneasiness that can't be easily diagnosed, fixed, or even acknowledged by the characters...This is well-trod ground for Petzold, but never has it been so fully realized, so palpable, as in "Barbara." - CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

"The movie examines the possibility of maintaining one's humanity in a truly oppressive society." - SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"It persuades us early on that its aura of political tension and suspicion, its taciturnity, its very strictness of silent observation as it begins, are fostering an intelligent thriller. - THE NEW REPUBLIC