I saw this movie with an audience, and quite a few had a visible (and intended )emotional reaction to it. Obviously it's able to touch people on an emotional level. In that regard, the movie is quite successful.
Before I saw this movie, I was annoyed by how much of the story was spoiled by trailers. But after watching it, you realize that the story itself is not the important part of this movie. It's establishing relationships between Eva (the girl) and the people in her life. This is also where the movie gains its emotional strength. This part of the movie is probably also the best one, as the feelings the characters have for each other is easily felt as you watch the movie.
But I was there was more. The plot is mostly predictable, and even its most dramatic moments is quickly dropped shortly after happening. The movie goes as a swift pace past anything actually happening, but spends a lot of time on the moments where there's not much going on at all. Where young Eva is exploring the limits of her household, and trying to get a glimpse of the world outside of it. There's enough happening in this movie to warrant its two hour runtime, but the time could have been spent a lot better.
The last part of the movie is almost like fast forward, most likely only so that they could get to the ending scene in a way that carried some emotional impact. Perhaps more of the movie could be spent on these parts of her life, instead of her childhood? In the end, it's a movie that follows the beats you expect it to. On a technical level it (mostly) impresses, especially the make up. The dialects are all over the place, taking a bit of the realism away, but the acting is mostly of high quality.
