Her performance is sensational, but her direction is a little lacklustre. In my opinion, she should have picked either director or actor for this project, not both. I respect her work and this film, I do think it’s a good one overall. It has a strong opening and conclusion, but it’s a little muddled in the middle. I think with a better director, this could have been a great film, but what it turned out to be was a lesson in directing for Farmiga.

"Bereft of both spiritual and narrative spark, the loss-of-faith drama Higher Ground gets stuck in the valley of the shadow of snark." - Bill Weber

Very detailed story of a woman coming to grips with her growing alienation with her fundamentalist religion. But like so many other such vehicles portraying their just criticism of these churches, it offers no alternative other than some nebulous generalized concept of going out and living life. "Outside are the dogs". Yes, a positive point and symbol well taken, but of little comfort to the newly apostate who are inevitably fearful at the loss of their spiritual foundation and family.