89
Metascore
30 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerThe Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerBoth a powerful allegory for post-war regeneration and a rich Hitchcockian tale of mistaken identity, Phoenix once again proves that German filmmaker Christian Petzold and his favorite star, Nina Hoss, are clearly one of the best director-actor duos working in movies today.
- 100Slant MagazineJames LattimerSlant MagazineJames LattimerChristian Petzold never luxuriates in all this film history, but rather channels the artifice and affect it embodies into new insights.
- 100Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekVillage VoiceStephanie ZacharekThe director's last film was the superb 2012 Barbara, also starring Hoss and Zehrfeld, another romance with a mystery built in; Phoenix is an even finer piece of work, so beautifully made that it comes close to perfect.
- 91The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicThe PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicPetzold distills a familiar atmosphere to create a work veiled in vibrant, cohesive, sensitively stimulating power.
- 90VarietyScott FoundasVarietyScott FoundasBecause Petzold is such a gifted storyteller, with the lean, driving narrative sense of the film noir masters, he also keeps those twists and turns chugging smoothly along, building to a climax so expertly orchestrated that one imagines he started with it in mind and worked the rest of the movie backward from there.
- 88The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Nathalie AtkinsonThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Nathalie AtkinsonWith a riveting performance-within-a-performance of subtle physicality by Nina Hoss, the charade in which a woman plays her own doppelganger certainly borrows tension, look and conventions from postwar film noir.
- 80CineVueJohn BleasdaleCineVueJohn BleasdalePetzold's Phoenix is a high-concept premise executed as a heart-wrenching character piece.
- 80EmpireDavid ParkinsonEmpireDavid ParkinsonA gripping study of treachery, identity and survival.
- 80Time Out LondonCath ClarkeTime Out LondonCath ClarkeIt works and then some, making for a noirish and complex emotional thriller. And Hoss is incredible, playing Nelly with the shuffling gait and haunted expression of a dead woman walking.