94
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Total FilmTotal FilmLosey creates an atmosphere of deepening claustrophobic menace shot through with episodes of savage black humour.
- 100The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawIt is a brilliant, subversive account of class relations and the changing times.
- 100Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonTime Out LondonTom HuddlestonIt’s one of the most insightful films ever made about the British class system.
- 100Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranGlaciers might be melting, the polar caps might be crumbling, but not even the passage of half a century has taken the frozen edge off this brilliantly icy film.
- 90Village VoiceZachary WigonVillage VoiceZachary WigonMixing techniques as surely as it mixes class (graceful dolly shots are placed side by side with the handheld photography), the picture's clever formalist juxtapositions evoke the hysterical confusion of a culture in upheaval.
- Its account of patrician degradation will cause you to blink your eyes. Although it is only fiction, it wafts a thick and acrid air of smoldering truth.
- 60EmpireAdam SmithEmpireAdam SmithCertainly difficult to define, this period piece messes with genres, power relationships and your head.