 Lloyd Paseman, writing for "The Register-Guard", compared the film to Blier's earlier "Get Out Your Handkerchiefs" in its subject matter, but said "Beau Pere" was better, with Dewaere being "excellent" and Besse being "The main reason to see "Beau Pere"", comparing her to Brooke Shields.Conversely, David Denby of "New York" magazine panned the film as "heavy-handed and sluggish".In his "2002 Movie & Video Guide", Leonard Maltin gives the film three and a half stars and calls it thoughtful and sensitive.