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Exterminating Angels

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 16 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 1 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Fantasy | Foreign
Written by: Jean-Claude Brisseau
Directed by: Jean-Claude Brisseau
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 7, 2007
Running Time: 100 minutes, Color
Origin: France
Language(s): French (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Frédéric van den Driessche, Maroussia Dubreuil, Lise Bellynck, Marie Allan, Sophie Bonnet, Raphaële Godin, Margaret Zenou, and Jeanne Cellard
From the director who scandalized France with "Secret Things" comes a film that will shock you, make you think and turn you on. (IFC First Take)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Secret Things
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
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...
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Like "Secret Things," the film is ultimately infuriating, subtle, self-indulgent, astute and disingenuous, which makes for great -- if divisive -- conversation.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
The problem with Exterminating Angels is that its explanatory side overwhelms its playfully perverse side.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
One of Mr. Brisseau's subjects is the volatility of desire, the way the path of erotic curiosity can swerve from satisfaction into recrimination and confusion. A porno-philosopher in the venerable French tradition, he blends a frank appeal to the audience's nether regions with some teasing attention to its mind.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
A luminous picture, beautifully made, loaded with symbolism and mystical-religious imagery, about an artist's self-destructive quest for an unreachable grail. It's also a deliberately prurient spectacle designed to be arousing and troubling -- most viewers, I imagine, will have both reactions at various times (and maybe at the same time).
Read Full Review >Variety Lisa Nesselson
Brisseau trains his deft camera on the crescendo of female sexual pleasure and how women can heighten the intensity of already blissful sensations via transgressive flourishes. If exiting viewers could all be asked "Was it good for you?" the likely answer is "Yes."
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
The content may be dubious, but the execution is hypnotic.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Staff (Not credited)
Alternately provocative and highly silly, the film overcomes its more ludicrous aspects through its glossy visual style, its frequent doses of humor and the obvious associations it evokes to its creator's real-life experiences.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
Brisseau obviously aims to shock - and he does. Now shocking is A-OK with me - but only if it's part of a something bigger. Exterminating Angels is beautifully lensed and acted, but it lacks substance.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The new movie, for all its huffing and puffing, explores very little, even if some of it is sexy in a Howard Stern-meets-"9 1⁄2Weeks" way.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Soft porn for people who like to watch - and want to be punished for it.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Unbelievably pretentious and a bit of a hoot but rarely boring.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Leave it to the French to take the joy back out of sex. The high-minded erotic drama Exterminating Angels has heat but little light; it speaks of pleasure while treating it as a dirty word. The cast huffs and puffs but the exercise, sadly, remains academic.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
The film -- buoyed by its cast of excellent actors -- loses its momentum in the final half-hour when it starts to take itself too seriously.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Matthew Sorrento
As ambitious as this alleged art film may appear - the Bunuelian title proves to be more of a starting point than a true allusion - it lacks any introspection to illuminate the erotic subject matter. (Think Michael Bay attempting to remake "Y Tu Mama Tambien.")
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
Exterminating Angels is meant as an autocritique--and yet the director can't get past his notion of himself as a fearlessly transgressive artist-hero, a martyr to the limitations of male gaze.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
