Critical Approaches to Film

Learn to understand films from a variety of critical perspectives.

Ever checked a Rotten Tomatoes score or IMDb rating before picking a movie? Or wondered why critics can’t agree on the same film?

This online course takes you on a journey through film criticism and theory, showing how films are evaluated, discussed, and understood as art, entertainment, and cultural products.

Over four weeks, guided by the experts at the Film Distributors’ Association, you’ll explore how film criticism works, from everyday reviews to deeper theoretical approaches.

Discover your favourite film in a new light

You’ll begin by examining the role of film reviews in shaping audience choices.

Through examples from recent releases, you’ll see how ratings, opinions, and discussion influence what we watch, how we interpret films, and even how films perform commercially.

You’ll reflect on your own experiences, understanding the difference between opinion, analysis, and evaluation, and how reviews can guide or mislead audiences.

Unpack key film theories

Next, you’ll explore core film theory concepts such as genre, auteur, formalism, realism, and social realism.

You’ll learn how critics and scholars analyse films as art, entertainment, and cultural products, and how these approaches can reveal hidden meanings, cultural values, and artistic choices.

This point in the course gives you tools to interpret films more deeply, making connections between what you see on screen and broader cultural or artistic contexts.

Explore modern perspectives

Finally, you’ll dive into structuralism, semiotics, feminism, psychoanalytic, and ideological approaches, seeing how these frameworks reveal narrative, representation, and meaning.

Through practical exercises, you’ll apply these theories to films you know, building skills to analyse, compare, and discuss films confidently.

Ideal for film enthusiasts, casual viewers, and learners at school, college, or university who want to explore film criticism, reviews, and theory.

This course is best studied using computers, laptops or tablets in order to access various tasks.

Ideal for film enthusiasts, casual viewers, and learners at school, college, or university who want to explore film criticism, reviews, and theory.

• Apply different critical perspectives to interpreting a film, moving beyond personal opinion.
• Identify key stages in the history of film criticism and theory, from early criticism to contemporary theory.
• Explore how critical approaches to cinema have changed in response to cultural, social, and technological shifts.
• 3. Identify major ideas and debates in film theory (e.g., realism, genre, ideology, representation).
• 6. Develop confidence in discussing films critically, connecting historical criticism to their own viewing experiences.
• Investigate cinema as both art and cultural expression, gaining deeper insight into how films shape and reflect society.