It was a given that French critics would be blown away by Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans.” The filmmaker has been gaining in esteem there these last few years, especially with his latter-day films being so well-reviewed.
‘Fabelmans’ opened today in France, and has a staggering 4.9 average from critics on Allocine (with 41 reviews so far). I can’t remember the last time a film scored this highly. This is also the highest score for a Spielberg since 2002’s “Minority Report” (4.4).
Quite astonishing when you think about it. The previous highest scorers from this decade were Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” (4.6) and PTA’s “Licorice Pizza” (4.5). In the 2010s, it was Bong’s “Parasite” (4.8), Farhadi’s “A Seperation” (4.7), Almodovar’s “Pain and Glory” (4.6).
In fact, Spielberg’s ‘Fabelmans’ has become the highest rated film of the century in France. There were a few 4.9 scores in the aughts, but none of those films had as many reviews registered. The closest one was Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby” (4.9) with 25 reviews.
Spielberg has officially entered his auteur phase in France. A Cahiers du Cinema 5-star review means a top 10 list inclusion is inevitable now.
Spielberg’s recent films have fared very well with French critics: West Side Story (4.0), Ready Player One (4.0), The Post (4.0) Bridge of Spies (3.9), Lincoln (3.9) and War of the Worlds (4.2)
They absolutely love him. Classicist filmmaking is incredibly well-received in France, that’s why ardent classicist filmmakers such as Clint Eastwood, James Gray and Jeff Nichols are regarded as major filmmaking voices over there.