Critic Reviews

• Trevor Johnston, Time Out

  Quite how this segues into a grand finale defining bathos to the strains of Beethoven almost beggars description, but failed seriousness to this degree of screaming awfulness is choice indeed - unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons.

• Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter

  Save for one sentimental subplot, the writer-director clearly doesn't care for these people very much. Nor is there much reason for viewers to care, either.

• Robert Hanks, Independent

  Clichéd and contrived.

• Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph

  It's hard to get past an almost sadistic aloofness in the storytelling, and several of Fiennes's flapping plot strands wither on the vine.

• Nigel Andrews, Financial Times

  One is unsure what the menu is meant to be in this satire/drama/melodrama.

• Cath Clarke, Guardian [UK]

  This is no better, and no worse, than two hours of particularly posh soap opera.

• James Mottram, Film4

  Not quite the British Magnolia it wants to be, Chromophobia's melting pot plot is too often little more than overheated melodrama. But aided by Damian Lewis's strong turn, it still manages some unexpectedly poignant moments.

• Anna Smith, BBC

  A lengthy ensemble piece that's emotionally distant but rarely dull.

• Neil Smith, Total Film

  Given the implausible contrivances that link these disparate protagonists, though, it's hard to care much about any of them in a chilly drama whose sleek aesthetic masks a hollow soul.

• Tim Evans, Sky Movies

  Chromophobia, incidentally, is an irrational fear of colour. Someting we could have done with a bit more of.

• William Thomas, Empire Magazine

  Kristin Scott Thomas is marvellous but director Martha Fiennes fails to tie together all the remaining plot strands convincingly.

• Matthew Turner, ViewLondon

  The performances are fine but the multiple story strands never really add up to much and the film fails to engage on an emotional level.

• Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

  Digs into modern life in some very interesting ways, even though it's not always easy to see the point of it all.

Read all 13 critic reviews