Critical opinion has been largely positive. The film was screened out of competition at the 1997 Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for the Maverick Spirit Award at the Cinequest Film Festival in 1998 as well as for the Emden Film Award at the International Filmfest Emden in 1997. "Variety", although opining that the film was "flat," nevertheless praised the leading actress' "charm and energy," as did "Metro Silicon Valley" critic Richard von Busack, who wrote that "[d]ark, pocket-size and intense, Stolze has the magnetism to prove why men thought of Lasker-Schüler as an Expressionist vampire," and critic Ed Soohoo, who wrote that it is "wonderful to see" Lena Stolze "once again on screen as she brings life to Else." Critic Peter Nellhaus has praised the film's "expressionist collage of conventional biographical re-enactment, stylized staging, and documentary" and wrote that he regards it as a "truthful film."