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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Death and the Maiden

EMAILPRINTFine Line Features

Death and the Maiden reviews
72
6.7 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 4 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama  |  Mystery  |  Suspense/Thriller

Written by: Ariel Dorfman (also play)
Rafael Yglesias

Directed by: Roman Polanski

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 23, 1994
DVD: June 3, 2003

Running Time: 103 minutes, Color

Origin: UK / USA / France

Summary

RATING: R for strong language including descriptions of violent situations

Starring Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Stuart Wilson, Krystia Mova, Jonathan Vega, Rodolphe Vega, Gilberto Cortés, and Jorge Cruz

A chance encounter enables a woman to turn the tables on the sadistic doctor who tortured her 15 years earlier. (New Line Cinema)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's an immensely successful movie - and far and away the most emotionally charged, psychologically uneasy and diabolically suspenseful thriller Polanski's made since his heyday. [27 Jan 1995, p. 26]

91

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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90

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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89

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Death and the Maiden is a streamlined razor-ride of a movie: taut, riveting, and a psychological horror show that will leave nail-marks in your palms for days afterwards.

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88

TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)

The material is well served by director Roman Polanski, who knows well how to instill a subtle, claustrophobic sense of dread in an audience and has put together a rather elegant potboiler.

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80

The New York Times Caryn James

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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80

Empire Kim Newman

Even by their high standards, the performances of Weaver and Kingsley here are impressive, and Polanski ratchetts up the tension nicely. A chilling and thought-provoking piece.

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75

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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75

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Polanski, working from a fluid script by Dorfman and Rafael Yglesias ("Fearless"), gives the story its due. He creates an atmosphere of claustrophobic tension to rival his "Knife in the Water" and "Repulsion".

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Polanski directs the film without a wasting a moment. The occasional humor does nothing to relieve tension but, as in a Hitchcock picture, has a way of increasing it.

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75

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Staff (Not Credited)

Death and the Maiden never fulfills the evocative promise of those initial frames...Beyond that, you have to settle for a craftsman working with more precision than inspiration. But Polanski at half-speed is still hard to beat. [27 Jan 1995, pg. E.1]

70

Salon.com Charles Taylor

It's an exceptionally intelligent and controlled piece of direction, and for once Polanski didn't hide his emotions in a death's-head grin. The movie is raw and passionate and unresolved in a way that's unique among his work.

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70

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Even though he's psychologically expanded his source, the material is a bit too schematic to work as much more than a scaled-down thriller.

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67

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Sigourney Weaver isn't quite up to her most demanding scenes, but Ben Kingsley is expertly enigmatic as the stranger, and Stuart Wilson is excellent as the husband who doesn't know whom to believe. [27 Jan 1995, p. 14]

63

San Francisco Examiner Scott Rosenberg

There's not much mystery here; there's only one outcome that could possibly make dramatic sense. And once you realize that, there's not much to do besides watch some very adept performers chew on their lines.

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60

Washington Post Hal Hinson

Polanski stages some lovely moments, particularly Paulina's candlelit dinner in her closet. But he also undercuts the high-minded ideals of Dorfman's original by exposing its radical chic pretentions.

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50

Washington Post Desson Howe

Polanski touch -- apart from a little suspense here and there -- is limited. And the story, which Ariel Dorfman adapted from his radical-chic play, is too contrived and smug to really hold.

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50

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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40

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Weaver's overacting and Dorfman's bold-faced dialogue oversell the scenario. Only Kingsley's sly turn gives Death And The Maiden any real feeling of disquiet.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jay H gave it a7:
Intense and compelling, excellent direction by Roman Polanski. Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley are amazing. Never a dull moment, very fast pacing. Fascinating story. I was not fully satisfied by the ending, but not sure if there would be any better way

Marty G gave it a6:
The issue is very real but this movie treatment is too obvious in its plot development and the ending just fades away. Weaver is not convincing, her husband has no spine, they have no chemistry. Kingsley makes it watchable.

Jared C. gave it a4:
I couldn't wait tell this movie came out on DVD, until I found nothing in the store but boring old 1940 movies. Two years later I found it in a store, but that was a time that I didn't have much taste or appetite for that kind of genre. But I watched it and I didn't mind it but could need some work on a few things.

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