This is a first-rate piece of work by a director who’s daring and agile. The unfussiness of Frears’ approach is tonic. The movie gets at the important things and doesn’t linger over them. It’s heaven -- alive in a way that movies of classics rarely are.

| Sep 12, 2023

A decadent celebration of wanton cruelty.

| Dec 7, 2022

[Puts] a handsome gloss on sordid material in a way that might not quite feel "dangerous", but is at least extremely bracing.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 12, 2022

Cynical, fierce, and in the end desperately romantic, this is the most beautiful movie of 1988. [Full review in Spanish]

| Jun 14, 2022

Glenn Close copes very well with the precise, formal, waspish lines; this is a fastidious, distinguished and exciting performance.

| Apr 9, 2019

It's an elegant, erotic and gorgeously photographed tour through a wickedly artificial 18th century aristocratic world in which people can articulate anything and everything but the emotions that finally destroy them.

| Apr 30, 2018

This incisive study of sex as an arena for manipulative power games takes too long to catch fire and suffers from a deficient central performance.

| Feb 8, 2008

The creepy plot still holds a certain fascination.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 8, 2008

Emotional cruelty through sexual manipulation is the rule of the game of this smooth transfer of Christopher Hampton's witty play, with an all-American cast, headed by Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer.

| Original Score: B+ | Apr 30, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 26, 2006

A sombre, manipulative affair in which the decor is never allowed to usurp our interest.

| Jan 26, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 14, 2005

Splendid... full of deliciously devious characters

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 3, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 10, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 18, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 10, 2004

For a tragedy that carries a strong emotional kick, it's wickedly fun.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 5, 2004

Close, Malkovich e Pfeiffer aproveitam ao mximo seus fascinantes personagens e os dilogos afiados do roteiro de Hampton, mas o filme um pouco mais frio do que deveria.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 3, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 22, 2003

Wicked and well-appointed, this is a deliriously sinful costume a drama.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 16, 2003