J. J. Wright’s review published on Letterboxd:
Not familiar with Richter's story and only became aware AFTER watching it of his dissatisfaction with this loose adaptation/appropriation of his life story. That's a pity, as it colors how I feel about this to some extent (even if not on the broad strokes). Overall I think this is a good story as depicted/told here, if not more than a little typical of the genre and spread out across an odd duration. I felt that the script played a little easy with coincidences and timing even though it had plenty of run time to not need to do this, and occasionally was too on-the-nose (the stroll through the art school in Dusseldorf) or pat (elements of the ending) for its own good.
But it's strange how Richter's life story in and of itself could serve as an incredible throughline through such a fascinating period of history, and the film walks this line of fudging the details while adhering to his story... I wonder if more freedom, or an even more fictionalized story set in the same period would have helped things? Or if an even more expansive version of it, like as a limited series, might have done better than a 3hr film with a lot of movements to it, some more well-served than others.