Demonlover
Palm Pictures | Release Date: September 19, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
8
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Olivier Assayas latest effort could be mistaken for a hipper-than-thou thriller. But it isn’t--it’s in fact a difficult, challenging, and troubling art film. [October 2003, p. 19]
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
From the first voyeuristic peek into the ruthless world to the haunting, accusatory, unforgettable final image, it's a brilliant, stunning piece of work, perhaps not Assayas' best, but certainly his most fearless and impassioned. Read full review
100
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Whatever else it may be, this movie is not like anything you've seen this year, and those weary of Hollywood norms owe it to themselves to seek it out. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
It's an exasperating, irresistible, must-see mess of a movie about life in the modern world and so very good that even when its story finally crashes and burns the filmmaking remains unscathed. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Has a dreamy ominousness about it, and a sorrowfulness that speaks to the artificial intimacies of cellular communication, digital images and dial-up porn. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The entrancing visual imagery goes a long way toward filling in the screenplay's gaps in logic. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Disturbing, darkly beautiful. Read full review
80
SalonCharles Taylor
It's a consistently exciting piece of moviemaking, but it's not a pleasant experience; it's one of the few recent movies that have the power to leave you genuinely shaken up. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
It's gripping and provocative, making effective use of Charles Berling and the music of Sonic Youth, though I wish it were a little less indebted to David Cronenberg's "Videodrome." Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
This film will either drive you mad or make you angry, possibly both, if you’re lucky, but it’s rarely boring. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Unlike almost every other sexy modern thriller (especially most recent studio blockbusters), this one gives you a lot to think about. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Sharp, erotic performances are the mainstay of Olivier Assayas' unnerving Demonlover, a visually stylish movie that equates and fuses high-stakes corporate negotiations with the video-game mentality. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Expect Demonlover to become a midnight-movie staple in the coming years. And expect shards of it to roil your dreams for weeks. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Assayas can't resist turning Demonlover into an overcalculatedly irrational rabbit-hole-to-the-dark-side thriller. The movie morphs into a ''dream,'' all right, but I confess that all I wanted to do was wake up from it and return to the slithery intrigue of corporate depravity. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
May be Assayas' airiest work to date, an intriguing trifle that leaves its considerable pleasures to lounge around on the surface. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Nielsen beautifully embodies the sadness and confused sense of unreality that attend our appetite for the Internet's cheaper thrills. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
However glitzy, clever, and luridly philosophical, Demonlover is still mainly an old-fashioned thriller. Read full review
63
New York PostV.A. Musetto
I've seen Demonlover twice and still find the plot a challenge. I'd try again if I thought it would help. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The harder you try to follow the narrative the more frustrating the film becomes, but its sleekly menacing images work their way into your brain like slivers of dry ice. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
Manages to feel both obvious and oblique: You feel the need to watch it twice but wonder if you would actually be up for it. It moves like a breezy techno-thriller but tangles itself with duplicities and metaphors. You get it, and then you don't get it, and then you wonder if you even care. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Never quite jells into a coherent statement. Or a coherent film. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
By the end of the movie, I frankly didn't give a damn. There's an ironic twist, but the movie hadn't paid for it and didn't deserve it. And I was struck by the complete lack of morality in Demonlover. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Well-scripted, well-acted and occasionally sexy, but just isn't all that interesting. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
A visionary film with dramatic myopia.
40
Film ThreatBob Westal
Demonlover would have probably been plane insufferable without Gina Gershon. All the other actors are doing an outstanding job of playing essentially dead souls, and it's a saving grace that Assayas allowed her, at least, to have some fun. Read full review
40
EmpireAlan Morrison
There's a Cronenbergian coldness to Olivier Assayas' corporate thriller. Read full review
30
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Sure to turn off general viewers due to its emotional inaccessibility, multitude of narrative problems and preoccupation with a torture Web site. Read full review
30
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Meant to be a sleek, dark, disturbing David Cronenberg-style thriller, Olivier Assayas's film is just an annoying concoction. Read full review
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