Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 319 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "A remarkable debut for writer-director Celine Song, Past Lives uses the bonds between its sensitively sketched central characters to support trenchant observations on the human condition." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 94 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Manola Darghis, in The New York Times, compared the film to French romantic cinema, complimenting its restraint in the presentation of its main themes, and writing: "The movie's modesty—its intimacy, human scale, humble locations and lack of visual oomph—is one of its strengths. The characters live in homes that are pleasant yet ordinary, the kind that you can imagine hanging out in, the kind you want to hang out in. There are few big, look-at-me details, though you might notice a poster for Jacques Rivette’s 1974 classic Céline and Julie Go Boating in Nora’s father’s home office in Seoul." In The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw praised the film highly, referencing existing comparisons to the works of Richard Linklater, Noah Baumbach, and Greta Gerwig, and himself likening the film to Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love". He wrote: "Past Lives is a glorious date movie, and a movie for every occasion, too. As ever with films like this, there is an auxiliary pleasure in wondering how much of her own past life Song has used. It's a must-see."
Filmmaker Daniel Scheinert, who co-directed A24's Everything Everywhere All at Once with Daniel Kwan, praised the film, saying: "It's remarkable, the way [Celine Song] pushed past the story of 'picking mister right' and the story of 'fighting to win the girl' and somehow brought her audience to this painfully relatable heartbreak on the other side of those stories. I'm inspired by it. And mystified by how the filmmaking team did it. But when I was lucky enough to see a Q&A and have some brunch with Celine, I saw how curious and thoughtful and passionate and charmingly bossy she was, and I was instantly convinced that this movie was no accident. It's a smart, confident, unique poem because Celine is a smart, confident, unique poet." Filmmaker Christopher Nolan also praised the film and named it one of his favorites, calling it "subtle in a beautiful sort of way". Other filmmakers, such as Allison Anders, Reinaldo Marcus Green, Andrew Haigh, Rich Peppiatt, and Zoe Lister-Jones cited it as among their favorite films of 2023.
Collider ranked it 7th on its list of the "20 Best Drama Movies of the 2020s So Far", calling it "a story that could only exist because of modern circumstances, but feels timeless in its approach. How does someone choose between two lovers, one that represents the most fruitful days of her youth, and the other someone she has grown to love as part of her reality? Celine Song examines these critical conversations through the perspective of an immigrant story." In 2024, IndieWire included it on its list of the "Best American Independent Movies of the 21st Century" and in 2025 ranked it 40th on its list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 2020s (So Far)." Looper also named it the "Best PG-13 Movie of All Time," calling it "a master class in the art of subtlety while evoking complex human emotions. The minimalist love story is like no other in how it expertly captures the slow-burn nature of fate. It's a bittersweet experience that'll leave you aching for all of life's 'what-ifs.'" In May 2025, ScreenCrush ranked the film 10th on its list of "The 20 Best Movies of the Last 20 Years", with Matt Singer writing, "The resolution of this low-key love triangle is absolutely devastating, and will have you reflecting on the moments and choices that shaped your own life, even if their importance only became clear in hindsight." In June 2025, The New York Times ranked the film 86th on its list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century", writing that the film "is filled with exquisite reflections on time, love, fate and reinvention." It also ranked number 47 on the "Readers' Choice" edition of the list. In July 2025, it ranked number 55 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century."
