Stephen Farber

“…. [Stanton's] growing love for Agatha becomes the heart of the film. We know they can never get together; if nothing else, Vanessa Redgrave is much too tall for Dustin Hoffman. [?] But the spectacle of this mismatched couple is oddly moving….

“[I]n matters of characterization the film falls short….

“The main characters are only slightly more full-blooded. The script dramatizes Agatha's shyness and her methodical intelligence. But once those few points have been established, the film doesn't deepen its portrait of Agatha. [Redgrave does, though; see her at end, folding Wally's shirts.] She never comes alive as a richly faceted, mysterious character, though surely she must have an extraordinarily complex woman. This sketchiness is no fault of the star. Vanessa Redgrave does a superb job of conveying the painful awkwardness of this sheltered woman, her discomfort with success and her insecurity with men. Redgrave works with great subtlety, but the script doesn't support her.

“…. [Dustin Hoffman's] customary vitality is muted here.

It is tempting to label Agatha a "woman's picture," partly because many women will sympathize with Agatha's masochistic obsession with her husband and her struggle to free herself of her dependency. But that label is also a sign of the film's defects; it doesn't transcend soap opera. Thin, wan, slightly bloodless, Agatha refuses to plumb its characters' anguish with any real passion.

Stephen Farber
New West, March 12, 1979