43
Metascore
8 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Screen DailyJonathan RomneyScreen DailyJonathan RomneyPolanski and the supremely genre-savvy Assayas know exactly what they’re doing, and whenever you think you’ve seen it all before, you realise they’re actually doing something else entirely – the film is an expertly navigated maze of misdirection.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungThe Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungThere are multiple levels on which to enjoy Roman Polanski’s Based on a True Story (D’Apres une histoire vraie), none of them very deep or complicated. But together they raise the resonance of a masterfully made psychological thriller in the traditional mode.
- 58The Film StageGiovanni Marchini CamiaThe Film StageGiovanni Marchini CamiaPolanski sleepwalks his way through the film, manifesting precious little of the skill and invention that fueled the slow-burn suspense and sinister atmospheres of superficially similar works such as Rosemary’s Baby and Repulsion.
- 40The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThis is a movie which begins with confidence and style, wearing its influences pretty insouciantly; the film sashays about the screen with a kind of sexy-chic smirk, like the unvarying facial expression of its co-lead Eva Green. But it wobbles at the brink of plot-holes which undermine the vital realistic plausibility of a film like this.
- 40VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeAlthough the screenplay contains all the beats needed to generate tension, Assayas’ gift for conveying information between the lines is almost entirely lost on Polanski, who doesn’t give his actresses the opportunity to flesh out the subtext of their most awkward interactions.
- 33The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicThe PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicIt’s one of the director’s worst films, if not the worst.
- 20The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinNothing in this feeble psychological thriller rings true for a moment, though its unhinged machinations feel as pedestrian as soap opera in execution.