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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Time of the Wolf, The
Palm Pictures


9.2

based on 20 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 5 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Isabelle Huppert, Béatrice Dalle, Patrice Chéreau, Rona Hartner, Maurice Bénichou, Olivier Gourmet, Brigitte Roüan, and Lucas Biscombe

An apocalyptic calamity has left the people of Europe struggling to survive amidst drastic shortages of food and water. A couple decides to flee the city to their country house with what meager supplies they can find in hopes of protecting their children. To their surprise and horror they find the house already occupied by another equally desperate family. The ensuing confrontation forever changes their -- setting them adrift in a chaotic, often indifferent world in which their survival hinges on the strained compassion of those they encounter. (Palm Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Foreign
WRITTEN BY:	Michael Haneke
DIRECTED BY:	Michael Haneke
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 14, 2004 Theatrical: June 25, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	114 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	France / Austria / Germany
LANGUAGE(S):	French (with English subtitles)

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

Variety Scott Foundas

Haneke demonstrates profound insight into the essence of human behavior when all humility is pared away, raw panic and despair are the order of the day, and man becomes more like wolf than man.

100

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

In today's digital bog of empty light and marketing deceptions, this is what early-millennium Euro art-film masterpieces feel like--lean, qualmish, abstracted to the point of parable but as grounded as a gravedigging.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

There are no zombies out of ''28 Days Later'' to alleviate the slow creep of realistic doom in this chilly, tense corker.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

One of the most harrowing and plausible visions of apocalypse since George A. Romero's 1968 zombie shocker, "Night of the Living Dead."

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Haneke has become known as a dour modern master of cinematic pain, and in this movie he scrubs civilization down to the root level.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Haneke is still a masterful director, and his authority carries this well-acted and attractively shot account of a family from an unnamed city trying to survive in the sticks after an unspecified catastrophe.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

At its best, the film sustains the heightened tension of great science fiction, dropping in on a frightening new world that's just this side of familiar.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

Time of the Wolf is tough medicine, to be sure. Yet, the movie builds to a note of cautious optimism that is as stirring as it is unexpected.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Nightmare-inducing.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Time of the Wolf is grounded so deeply in the reality of society gone awry that the anxiety faced by Isabelle Huppert's character as she struggles to keep her family together transfers onto the audience and never leaves.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Haneke's images are so bold and riveting and the characters' emotions are so raw that the lack of a few details doesn't matter.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

This is one of Haneke's least powerful films, although the excellent cast is interesting to watch.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

You can feel frightened and disturbed by this movie without being especially moved by it.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Moviegoers expecting a conventional sci-fi fantasy will be disappointed; Haneke never explains the vague disaster, nor does he offer any definitive solution.

Dallas Observer Staff (Not credited)

While it's sometimes tedious viewing, the film proves the perfect complement to this year's hyper-explained "The Day After Tomorrow;" it's utterly free of cheap melodrama and visual razzle-dazzle, concentrating instead on the souls of plausibly human sufferers.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

More than watchable, if less than compelling.

Film Threat Chris Wiegand

In the somewhat muted lead role, Huppert really is a marvel.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's a much more interesting and engrossing film than its somewhat nefarious reputation may indicate -- though, granted, elements of it are very hard to take, and it finally leaves you feeling pretty down and out.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Haneke leaves the future of the human race ambiguous. Or would have left it so if his allegory had worked. But the film is such a pat construction, so dingily shot in heavy light, so dependent on our cooperation without earning it, that we are more aware of the exercise than affected by it

Washington Post Desson Thomson

I would rather have a more interesting group of desperate people to spend my post-apocalyptic time with.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Peter A. gave it a9:
A wonderful film, scary, moving, unexplained, inexplicable, showing us the end of civilization as we know it, but with an unexpected note of optimism and beauty at the end. Huppert is marvelous and her two children are superb.

Dan S. gave it a9:
Well, there you have it. Justin has summed it up pretty well. Sure there will be some who'll tear into Haneke and his way with images; though they're probably the same bunch who'll criticize Gaspar Noe or Bruno Dumont for the same. The New French cinema is an incredible movement and the fact is that this Austrian emigre has a special part in it. And if you like this type of fare, you'll love Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice or Bergman's Shame...throw in a little Bela Tarr just for good measure. Or better yet, leave your SUV at home and check out Bruno Dumont's Twenty-Nine Palms, not to be confused with the American version of the same title.

Justin A. gave it a 10:
It often seems that Haneke is attempting to make movies that Adorno would postumously approve of. This film, very much in the tradition of 60's Bergman (Shame) and late Tarkovsky (Stalker, The Silence) seems to almost get there. I think reviewers are wrong who call Time of the Wolf an allegory; indeed, it doesn't seem to provide any symbolism at all. One would be hard-pressed to suggest a determinate political/cultural stance the film takes, unless the depiction of trauma, both individual and collective, is now a stance. But perhaps it serves to make those who arrived at the theater in their SUV's shudder...

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Time of the Wolf, The Palm Pictures

Time of the Wolf, The
Palm Pictures