Caryn James of The New York Times said the film "takes topical, explosive issues -- rape, sexual harassment, power plays between the sexes -- and reduces them into a forgettable puff of hot air".

[4] TV Guide wrote, "The film's greatest weakness is that it sticks chunks of position-paper talking into the mouths of the characters, rather than allowing them dimensions beyond their sexual grievances or revealing their contradictory attitudes through engaging dialogue.

"[5] The Chicago Tribune praised the cinematography but similarly criticized the dialogue, particularly in the trial scenes, as "so arch and pretentious the film seems unconsciously comic".

[6] TV Guide added, "Since director Marco Bellocchio doesn't choose to shape the speeches with any artistic flourish, The Conviction remains unadorned monologue art.

"[5] In the Chicago Reader, Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote, "Bellocchio seems to think he has a point; as he puts it, 'I am convinced that violence against women must be severely punished by law, but at the same time the perpetrator or the rapist is not really a rapist, but the 'ideal' man which every woman is looking for deep down, the man who does not destroy the woman’s identity, but by stimulating her desire does not disappoint her and therefore enables her to 'be born' and to strengthen her own identity.'

And, while the morality under examination is fascinating and may actually lead to some breakthrough discoveries, the assumptions guiding its path are grounded in patriarchal nonsense and cultural sandbags.