The Salesman
Cohen Media Group | Release Date: January 27, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
85
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Total FilmStephen KellyMar 30, 2017
Sparse and intricate, it’s a study of judgement, of ‘honour’, of Emad’s own fragile masculinity; one paralleled cleverly by his role in a production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonDave CalhounMar 13, 2017
As drama, The Salesman wanders, meanders and searches, mostly pleasurably, until it hits an over-engineered final chapter. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 22, 2017
The Salesman makes for a gripping drama of a relationship in crisis. Read full review
100
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonFeb 9, 2017
The film offers insights into Iranian society while also subtly making a case that human foibles are universal. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezFeb 9, 2017
The Salesman doesn’t have the same precision and emotional wallop of his previous films: The plot hinges on a couple of convenient contrivances, and the first half meanders a bit. Read full review
100
Boston GlobePeter KeoughFeb 9, 2017
As often happens in films about putting on plays, life imitates art, but in this instance obliquely. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzFeb 3, 2017
The performances are remarkable. So is the way Farhadi tells the story. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 3, 2017
The acting is wonderful throughout, but Alidoosti creates an especially haunting depiction of one woman's adversities in a country, and a marriage, that may not have her best interests at heart. Read full review
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorFeb 2, 2017
With The Salesman, Farhadi opens a window into his own society that offers a universal view of the emotional rivalries within the human heart. Neither America nor Iran could ask any more of an artist. Read full review
88
Washington PostAnn HornadayFeb 2, 2017
If the conceit feels obvious and strained, it still gives Farhadi and his actors ample room to explore the ambiguities of commitment, ethics and revenge in a society where mistrust in public servants runs deep. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesFeb 1, 2017
Rana’s voice comes roaring back in the film’s held-breath third act, in which these amateur actors return to their old apartment to enact a drama with life-or-death stakes. This final 30 minutes are the film’s pièce de résistance. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 1, 2017
All I can is that I didn’t draw too many breaths during the last half hour. Read full review
75
ObserverThelma AdamsFeb 1, 2017
Both Hosseini and Alidoosti underplay their parts with an apparent naturalism. And, yet, Farhadi constantly reminds the audience that they are watching a movie, that these handsome folks are actors playing actors in a film. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireJan 27, 2017
Some descriptions of The Salesman call it a thriller, suggesting a Hollywood-style suspense film. It’s not. It’s a psychological and moral drama. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJan 27, 2017
Farhadi’s new film, The Salesman, isn’t his best, or even second best, but it offers up glints of what, at times, makes him one of the best directors around. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 27, 2017
A dazzling, darkly funny, quietly devastating human drama from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Read full review
100
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJan 26, 2017
With exquisite patience and attention to detail, Asghar Farhadi, the writer and director, builds a solid and suspenseful plot out of ordinary incidents, and packs it with rich and resonant ideas. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartJan 26, 2017
Like his Oscar-winning “A Separation,” Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s latest, nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film, is an expertly crafted domestic thriller. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernJan 26, 2017
By the film’s shattering end, you’ll feel the spirit of Arthur Miller, one of the great dramatists of the 20th century, reaching across the transom to touch one of the great dramatists of the 21st. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 26, 2017
His new film, in Persian with English subtitles, is of a piece with his best work — tightly focused, rather than broad-gauge brilliant, and another instance of this superb filmmaker turning elusive motivations and the mysteries of personality into gripping drama. Read full review
80
SlateDana StevensJan 26, 2017
The two storylines interweave seamlessly and subtly, the couple's real-life problems not so much repeating as refracting the experiences of their fictional counterparts. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJan 26, 2017
The world of The Salesman isn’t quite as intricately imagined as some of its predecessors, and the story’s sleuthing element, while absorbing, often feels more narratively expedient than germane. But if the setup is creaky, the payoff, when it arrives, is a thing to behold. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloJan 25, 2017
"Death Of A Salesman" does indeed figure into the story, as the film’s main characters, a married couple, are playing Willy and Linda Loman in an amateur production. On the whole, however, this starkly confrontational melodrama has more in common with the Charles Bronson classic "Death Wish," even if it’s angry words rather than bullets that go whizzing across the screen. Read full review
60
Village VoiceBilge EbiriJan 24, 2017
Watching The Salesman, I can’t help but feel that this is the first time Farhadi’s mastery of the particular is undercut by the artificiality with which he’s treated the general. He remains one of the world’s foremost filmmakers, but this time around, his expertise and artistry are undone by phoniness. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJan 23, 2017
What follows, in the final half hour of the movie, is an astounding chamber piece, worthy of Strindberg, with the husband, the wife, and her aggressor stuck in a dance of doubt and death. With every shot, our sympathies flicker and tilt. Read full review
100
Slant MagazineChuck BowenJan 23, 2017
Asghar Farhadi's film yields a tonal and emotional friction that's simultaneously tragic, transcendent, and comic. Read full review
67
ConsequenceSarah KurchakSep 10, 2016
Given that The Salesman strives to be far more than a revenge thriller, Emad’s story isn’t enough to make it an unqualified triumph, but it’s still a genuinely good film, and worth watching. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyMay 24, 2016
On this present occasion, Farhadi may hardly be reinventing himself, but his old tools serve him just fine. Read full review
80
TheWrapBen CrollMay 22, 2016
Though a vengeance riff, it remains a Farhadi film all through, so dancing around each other means a lot of talking about action instead of doing action. And that’s fine – the former playwright is uncommonly gifted in writing third acts, where each line of dialogue and simple gesture are imbued with meaning. Read full review
80
CineVueJohn BleasdaleMay 21, 2016
This is a rich and complex take on guilt and anger. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 21, 2016
The Salesman is a well-crafted, valuable drama. Read full review
67
The Film StageGiovanni Marchini CamiaMay 21, 2016
Uncharacteristically inert, the film plods its way to a strained finale that erodes much of the strength of its potentially compelling themes. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungMay 21, 2016
Lacking the astounding social complexity of his Academy Award winning drama A Separation, here the gears are not so hidden and a sense of contrived drama leads to some tedious sections. But all is forgiven when the final punches are delivered in a knock-out finale that leaves the viewer tense and breathless. Read full review
83
The PlaylistJessica KiangMay 21, 2016
Though it is dense in allusion and rich in texture, there are choices he makes that ultimately pull The Salesman back from the greatness, and the engulfing universality of his best work. It is as compelling as anything Farhadi has ever made, but it’s also somehow smaller. Read full review
80
Screen DailyAllan HunterMay 21, 2016
Farhadi remains a master of pace and tension, slowly upping the stakes in an unsettling narrative fuelled by a lingering sense of powerlessness, paranoia and the possibility that you never entirely know the person you love. Read full review
100
VarietyOwen GleibermanMay 21, 2016
For a healthy stretch, The Salesman is even more low-key, minimal, and contained than the earlier Farhadi films. Yet the writer-director’s technique is just as assured as before. Every shot is in place, every line leading to an outcome that feels quietly up for grabs. Read full review
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