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Death and the Maiden Review

Other Critics provided by Metacritic.com

Critics scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 4.0
    72

    out of 100

    Metascore®
    Generally favorable reviews
    based on a weighted average of all
    critic review scores.

  • 50

    out of 100

    ReelViews James Berardinelli

    Polanski abandons all attempts at subtlety. The resulting production ends up far too heavy-handed to be considered powerful drama.

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  • 75

    out of 100

    Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

    Death and the Maiden is all about acting. In other hands, even given the same director, this might have been a dreary slog.

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  • 80

    out of 100

    The New York Times

    Mr. Polanski's brilliance with the camera turns Ariel Dorfman's well-meaning but pretentious play about human rights into a harrowing experience.

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  • 90

    out of 100

    Variety Todd McCarthy

    As vivid and suspenseful as Roman Polanski has made this claustrophobic tale of a torture victim turning the tables on her putative tormentor, one is still left with a film in which each character represents a mouthpiece for an ideology.

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  • 91

    out of 100

    Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

    Death and the Maiden doesn't always escape its contraption origins, but it ends with one of the most honest-and poetic- reckonings of human evil in modern movies. It's Polanski braying at his own bitter moon.

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  • See all Death and the Maiden reviews at Metacritic.com

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