The Los Angeles Times said: “Diop never loses sight of the men who have left home for a better future, or the women they have left behind; hers is the rare picture to address the global migrant crisis with intense storytelling imagination as well as moral outrage.”

New York magazine noted: “Though Atlantics at times has the vibe of a ghost story, ghosts are the least of Ada’s problems. She’s trapped in a world created by and for the benefit of rich men, where young brides are forced to undergo ‘virginity tests,’ cops brush off a case of large-scale wage theft, and a young woman without a husband will be left all alone. In Diop’s telling, vengeful spirits are far less frightening than the patriarchy.”

The Hollywood Reporter felt that the film was “exquisitely shot” and “lushly scored”. “Unsurprisingly, given it was made by a Parisian-reared woman with a deep connection to her African heritage, the film bubbles over with doubles and dualities, insiders and outsiders, and literally has ghosts of the dead dwelling inside the living,” they added.

Variety said: “After several films and documentaries looking at Senegalese men who make the dangerous Atlantic voyage as refugees… it’s refreshing to focus on the women left behind, facing lives of painful emotional, not to mention financial, interruption.”

Atlantics: everything you need to know about Netflix’s haunting new ghost love story