Anatomy of Hell

Variety Lisa Nesselson

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.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

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.

TV Guide Ken Fox

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.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

What follows is graphic, but it's too cerebral and too challenging to be dismissed as pornography.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

The surprise of Anatomy of Hell is that Siffredi's character is ultimately more vulnerable than the woman

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

A crashing bore.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The award for hardest-to-watch movie of the year.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

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.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Even without the difficult imagery, Breillat's grim observations on men, women, and sexual orientation, are tough to take.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Homophobic, sex-phobic, maybe even human-phobic.

Chicago Tribune Achy Obejas

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."

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

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.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Ranks high on the squirm meter. But, unlike in most of her earlier work, there's no emotional payoff.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Despite all that onscreen turgidness, Anatomy of Hell is itself so much a matter of the mind that it never rises above theory.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Breillat is a smart, serious observer of sexuality's often disruptive role in human life, but this existential drama is sadly pretentious.

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

Despite its copious nudity, it is less likely to incite lust among its viewers than a strong desire for a long hot shower.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

The dialogue that is wrapped around the sexual activities only helps to make the film disgustingly ridiculous.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

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.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Anatomy of Hell offers one of the most hateful and mechanical representations of sexuality I've ever seen.