The narrative [is] dreamlike, skipping a few links like a bike with a loose chain […]. But those gaps feel like gifts rather than errors, signs of respect from a director who wants to leave space for us to imagine our way into the world she creates.
— Elise Nakhnikian (Slant Magazine)
When [Rohrwacher] was casting Gelsomina in The Wonders, she looked for a face that resembled a Piero della Francesca painting.
The film is ambivalent in its portrayal of the father, depicting his dominion but also his dignity and vulnerability, his acts of resistance against contemporary capitalism.
— Emma Wilson (Film Quarterly)
Gelsomina’s family works according to some special rules. First of all, Gelsomina, at twelve years of age, is head of the family and her three younger sisters must obey her: sleep when she tells them to and work under her watchful eye. But the world, the outside, mustn’t know anything about their rules, and must be kept away from them. They must learn to disguise themselves.