47
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Film ThreatFilm ThreatThe story of lust, love and betrayal intriguingly bemoans racism and prejudice of bygone times while peppering the “history” with more modern references.
- 70TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxThis unusually rich film tackles not only the social structuring of criminality and sexuality but race as well, and explores the ways science has been used to justify the ruthless pursuit of market interests and, eventually, apartheid itself.
- 63New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJohn Greyson and Jack Lewis' experimental drama, about two prisoners who have a dangerous affair, is a challenging, flawed look at a little-known slice of history.
- 50VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyProteus has enough erotic and exotic content to win back some of the arthouse viewers previously beguiled by Greyson's "Lilies." But pic lacks that gem's lush aesthetics and impassioned complexity, ending up a tad remote.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckUltimately, the sex scenes seem of far more interest to the filmmakers than the narrative or characterizations, which are rendered in frustratingly vague and often deliberately confusing fashion.
- 50Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasProteus is involving and affecting even if it is not completely coherent or fully realized.
- 40L.A. WeeklyChuck WilsonL.A. WeeklyChuck WilsonProteus carries an air of forced-wit experimentation that never quite gets its anachronisms in order -- this 18th-century tale features a Jeep, a radio, and female court reporters with typewriters and bouffant hairdos.
- 38New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickThis Canadian-South African labor of love has its heart in the right place, even if the leads seem to have been cast more for their hunky looks than their stiff acting.
- 25San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco ChronicleTakes its name from the king protea, the national flower of South Africa. The stunning, artichoke-like shrub may be fragrant, but the movie's pretty much a stinker.