Dogville's tongue-clucking point-and von Trier makes it broadly-is the hypocrisy of the Good Samaritan, but a less clinical film could have done so more powerfully.

| Mar 16, 2020

Kidman has never lacked the courage to perform in innovative productions on stage and screen, such as The Blue Room and Eyes Wide Shut. In this film, which is a bit of both, she acquits herself gamely.

| Jan 10, 2018

For its exuberance and its difference, its fine performances and its devastating finale, Dogville is essential viewing.

| Jan 9, 2018

Bold stylistic decisions reinforce the themes of the narrative, while a strong story and convincing performances prove equal to the task of carrying such an extended running time.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 1, 2006

Ambitious, intriguing but fatally self-important ...

| Jan 26, 2006

For all of "Dogville's" strengths -- its powerful performances, the ingenious staging, how quickly and completely the audience accepts its stylized reality -- its take-home message is, ultimately, measly.

| Sep 26, 2005

Manages to strike a poignant chord as a more general denunciation of humanity's latent tendencies for malicious selfishness.

| Original Score: B+ | May 3, 2005

'Rich with meaning or a sublime prank, Dogville gets to you.'

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 22, 2005

There's nothing static about [Von Trier's] technique, but everything else about the movie is dreary and closed off.

Full Review | Aug 7, 2004

What Lars von Trier has achieved is avant-gardism for idiots.

Full Review | Aug 1, 2004

It's a tough sit through tough questions.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | May 13, 2004

You just have to see it to believe it. Frankly, I have never seen anything like it, which is not to say that it's good or bad, but it is different and even original.

| Apr 22, 2004

Von Trier's vision is amazingly thorough and exquisitely executed, but the audience may feel executed as well.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 18, 2004

It's simply a movie whose bite is as harsh and hard as its bark.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Apr 17, 2004

A punishing film to sit through, and its rewards may well depend on how much credit you wish to give von Trier for doing something different. Because, for better or worse, Dogville is unlike anything else you'll see on screens this year.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 16, 2004

Slow-moving but engrossing, it feels shorter, and any reservations you may have about the unorthodox approach are washed away by its unexpected and purgative ending.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Apr 16, 2004

Dogville is in no way a standard film and likely won't appeal to many. But Von Trier is so inventive, so outlandish and so filled with energy he has to at least be admired.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Apr 16, 2004

Nearly as powerful as Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Apr 16, 2004

Dogville is no different from von Trier's earlier parables of vulnerability and brutality. And like those works, it is the staggering, infuriating work of a visionary filmmaker.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 16, 2004

Dogville is not a masterpiece, nor is it an embarrassment. But it is a cinematic Rorschach test, as much fun to praise and to scorn as it is to watch.

| Original Score: B | Apr 15, 2004