Critic Reviews

• Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

  A decadent period piece and a sadomasochistic view of sexual relations, this singular, resonant, and at times even inspiring mannerist mess is far more interesting than a good many modest successes.

• , Variety

  This is a sleek, mannered look at an affair between a cold, almost psychotic, call girl and a writer, who is a fraught with overtones of masochism.

• , Time Out

  The figures of alienation wandering through an elegant landscape may be familiar from the Antonioni trilogy of the period, but the pessimism, energetic misanthropy and disenchantment with the world are all Losey's own.

• Bosley Crowther, New York Times

  There's not much wonder that practically everybody who had anything to do with the making of this film was offering excuses and alibis when it opened in Europe in 1962.

• Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion

  A watershed work, a furious whirlwind vision

• , TV Guide's Movie Guide

  A grim drama springs from an unimpressive story.

• Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

  Losey's original version is apparently lost in the mists of time, and what remains does not give us much of a clue as to its genius.

• Jon Fortgang, Film4

  A bleak and overwrought yet powerful drama.

• Donald J. Levit, ReelTalk Movie Reviews

  This adaptation of a 1945 James Hadley Chase novel moves with serpent grace.

• Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

  Losey puts a political face on both romances and compares them to a cold world bereft of Eden.

Read all 10 critic reviews