On
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 78% based on 27 reviews, and an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "As stark and riveting as its cinematography, 'I, Olga Hepnarová' takes a sober, haunting look at the life leading up to a woman's horrific real-life crime." On
Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Glenn Kenny wrote review for
The New York Times, "Anchored by a startling performance by Michalina Olszanska, the Czech film ‘I, Olga Hepnarova’ is an austere, hypnotic story of sadness, madness and murder." He ends his review, "Early in the movie, Ms. Olszanska, a slight, narrow-shouldered woman, plays Olga as someone trying to recede into herself, slumping and looking to the ground as she puffs on a cigarette. By the time of her trial, at which she pleads guilty and demands the death penalty, she is stiff, straight, defiant. Modern civilizations are haunted by crimes like this; ‘I, Olga Hepnarova’ persuasively suggests that the only understanding we can have of them is a terrifying one." Writing for
The Village Voice, Tanner Tafelski said "I, Olga Hepnarová is a bitter pill to swallow, focusing on the paradoxes of a misanthrope". ==References==