I found the film most successful when it left its tenant farm setting for a lovely, lyrical boat trip to the big city, the one moment of expansiveness in Olmi's otherwise hermetic narration.

The film has a tempo as slow as the seasons' turn, but there is something magnificent in its utter commitment and authenticity.

Produces feelings of aching joy and melancholy in equal measure.

[Not] as good as the sum total of its best moments, but those moments are really nothing less than sublime.