Anthony Lane of The New Yorker said, "The sense of period, of ungainly English pride, is funny and acute, but the movie mislays its sense of wit as the girls grow up.
Rana Dasgupta wrote in an essay about biographical films that "the film's tagline - 'The true story of two sisters who shared a passion, a madness and a man' - is a good indication of its prurient intent.