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Anatomie de l'enfer
  • Studio: Tartan
  • Release Date: Sep 24, 2004
Metascore
29 out of 100

Generally unfavorable - based on 19 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 19
  3. Negative: 14 out of 19
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  1. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    70
    Anatomy of Hell gives a feminist twist to a French literary tradition that goes back to the Marquis de Sade. It's also svelte, assured filmmaking.
  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: Lisa Nesselson
    70
    Compact, ultra-explicit two-character pic about what transpires when a beautiful straight woman hires a handsome gay man to "look" at her is gloriously mannered, proudly pretentious and undeniably compelling.
  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    60
    If you're feeling open-minded and a little adventurous, this chilling exploration of the gender gap from Gallic bad-girl Catherine Breillat is worth a look.
  4. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    60
    The surprise of Anatomy of Hell is that Siffredi's character is ultimately more vulnerable than the woman
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    60
    What follows is graphic, but it's too cerebral and too challenging to be dismissed as pornography.
  6. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    38
    The award for hardest-to-watch movie of the year.
  7. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    38
    A crashing bore.
  8. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    30
    Even without the difficult imagery, Breillat's grim observations on men, women, and sexual orientation, are tough to take.
  9. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    30
    Breillat's mix of dramatic skill and feminist intimidation has cowed plenty of critics in the past, but no political agenda could redeem this movie's joyless pedantry.
  10. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    25
    There are scenes here where Breillat deliberately disgusts us, not because we are disgusted by the natural life functions of women, as she implies, but simply because The Woman does things that would make any reasonable Man, or Woman, for that matter, throw up.
  11. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Achy Obejas
    25
    Although several of her (Breillat's) previous films were intriguing and provocative, this one seems styled more as raw material for satire on "Mad TV" or "Saturday Night Live."
  12. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    25
    Breillat is a smart, serious observer of sexuality's often disruptive role in human life, but this existential drama is sadly pretentious.
  13. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    25
    Ranks high on the squirm meter. But, unlike in most of her earlier work, there's no emotional payoff.
  14. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    25
    Despite all that onscreen turgidness, Anatomy of Hell is itself so much a matter of the mind that it never rises above theory.
  15. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    25
    Homophobic, sex-phobic, maybe even human-phobic.
  16. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    20
    Despite its copious nudity, it is less likely to incite lust among its viewers than a strong desire for a long hot shower.
  17. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    10
    Anatomy of Hell offers one of the most hateful and mechanical representations of sexuality I've ever seen.
  18. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    10
    Anatomy of Hell is more than a lapse; it is a brutal self-parody of a filmmaker who, having stripped down to the nitty-gritty once too often, may finally have nothing left to show.
  19. The New Republic
    Reviewed by: Stanley Kauffmann
    10
    The dialogue that is wrapped around the sexual activities only helps to make the film disgustingly ridiculous.
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