[4] Ian Shuttleworth also objected to the "clunky" framing scenes, writing that the play "is a standard triangular story with several cumbersome attempts to spice it up.

"[5] Tim Walker of The Sunday Telegraph, however, called The Countess “a wonderful, evocative piece of theatre,”[6] and Emma Whitelaw of indieLondon wrote that it was a “marvelous production,” calling Nick Moran's portrayal of John Ruskin “sublime.”[7] The Countess sparked some debate over its depiction of John Ruskin, and the resulting controversy led the New York Times to publish "A Twisted Victorian Love Tale That Won't Die Out" written by Lucinda Franks.

[4] Margo Jefferson, theatre critic for The New York Times in her essay REVISIONS; Lurking Behind the Victorian Propriety, Wit and Pluck.

[9] wrote: The Countess, by Gregory Murphy, reminds us of the terrifying imbalance of power between those who claim adult authority and those they treat like children ...

It is a revisionist drama, since Ruskin's wife, Effie, was seen for years as one of those people who surround a genius and have no real needs, privileges or rights that he is bound to respect ...

She thinks she has a disease that cannot be named and she can barely get the words out ... Mr. Murphy centers on Effie, and gives a full-bodied portrait of a woman who was generally seen as too worldly and shallow for such a great man.

[10][11][12] In 2008, Emma Thompson announced that she and Wise “had written a script together about John Ruskin, the Victorian art critic, which we want to make into a film.

Where is Thompson’s passion and commitment, or any hint of what she intended to achieve.”[24] Manohla Dargis in her review in The New York Times called Effie Gray “The cinematic equivalent of a Brazilian wax, the movie omits much of the story’s most interesting material to create something that’s been smoothly denatured.”[25]