A quiet, honest debut that finds emotional power in silences and small gestures. Juli Grabenhenrich is a revelation, and Luca Marinelli brings fragile restraint, even if the film hesitates to fully explore the weight of absent fatherhood.

..[Alissa Jung] manages to deliver a story that speaks to identity and explores father-daughter relationships, avoiding both artifice and clichés. [Full review in Spanish]

Actress Alissa Jung makes her directorial debut with this portrait of a very complex subject. [Full review in Spanish]

Paternal Leave turns out to be a truly authentic and sometimes searing look at Italian toxic masculinity...Marinelli delivers a complex, deeply affecting turn. His Paolo is egocentric, flawed but doing his best—even when that is nowhere near good enough.