Berlin Syndrome
Netflix | Release Date: May 26, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeJun 5, 2017
The film isn’t perfect. It’s slightly too long and drifts a bit in the middle. But the final showdown left me in a cold sweat. Read full review
80
The VergeBryan BishopJan 23, 2017
Palmer’s performance is honest and brave (particularly given that she’s often just performing scenes alone), and Shortland deftly switches between locked-door thriller mode and more nuanced character work. Read full review
80
Screen DailyWendy IdeJan 23, 2017
Australian director Cate Shortland (Somersault, Lore) takes a horror movie premise and imbues it with the knotty emotional complexity of a dysfunctional relationship psychodrama. Read full review
80
VarietyGuy LodgeJan 23, 2017
Between more trickily opaque stretches of character development, Shortland nails a handful of straight-up, nerve-shredding tension sequences, teasing a version of the film that might have tilted into full-bore horror. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireMay 26, 2017
Shortland has essentially crafted a claustrophobic two-hander with only occasional forays into the outside world. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayMay 22, 2017
Until its hasty climax, Cate Shortland's film is rewardingly patient and psychologically cogent. Read full review
75
ConsequenceRandall ColburnMay 18, 2017
Berlin Syndrome isn’t a sensational film; the emotions on display are warped and scarred, but rooted in identifiable desires. In some ways, this makes their impact that much more ingrained. Read full review
75
IndieWireKate ErblandJan 28, 2017
Bolstered by a strong performance from Teresa Palmer (who only gets better with each role, and seems happy to mix things up when it comes time to pick them), Berlin Syndrome doesn’t break much new ground in the genre, but it’s certainly a worthy entry into it. Read full review
75
The PlaylistNoel MurrayJan 23, 2017
This isn’t the kind of genre piece that everyone will warm to. Some might find the subject matter too bleak; others might wish it were pulpier. But on the whole, Berlin Syndrome is incredibly effective, while offering a perspective that these kinds of films usually lack. It gets to know the innocent, while rendering the evil banal. Read full review
75
The Film StageJordan RaupJan 23, 2017
While some of the story’s turns can feel overtly manipulative, Shortland finds a bracing humanity in depicting the perverse situation of Stockholm syndrome. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayMay 25, 2017
Shortland and Grant build to a climactic final act that’s almost unbearably intense. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeMay 24, 2017
This tedious kidnapping drama doesn’t have anything especially insightful to say about Clare’s ordeal, which makes watching her go through it an even more trying experience. Read full review
60
CineVueJohn BleasdaleJun 8, 2017
Adapting Melanie Joosten's novel, Shaun Grant has been unable to recapture the grimey darkness of everyday evil of his previous script Snowtown. Instead, we get a sojourn in place of trauma. Read full review
60
Village VoiceBilge EbiriMay 25, 2017
As Berlin Syndrome proceeds, however, we start to feel like we’re drowning in atmosphere, and it gets harder and harder to stay interested in what happens next. Read full review
60
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMay 25, 2017
Her insistent imagery and sometimes oblique narrative approach don’t always deliver the dividends sought. But the movie identifies Ms. Shortland as a talent to watch. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 23, 2017
Driven by a compellingly internalized performance from Teresa Palmer as the conflicted prey, this is a case of expert filmmaking craft applied to a familiar story that becomes unrelentingly grim and drawn out after its masterful setup. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 23, 2017
It’s a slow-moving/unsatisfying in the end how-will-she-escape thriller dragged out by too many scenes explaining the torturer’s psyche, undone by an ending that no Hollywood studio would allow past the “bad idea in the script” stage. Read full review
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