Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes
HBO Documentary Films | Release Date (Streaming): August 3, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago TribuneNina MetzAug 7, 2024
Always vivid on screen, that quality also existed in her life and self-expression offscreen. Read full review
80
The TelegraphAnita Singh Aug 15, 2024
The tapes – recordings of her 1964 interview sessions with her biographer, Richard Meryman – play out while we’re lavished with clips from Taylor’s films and newsreel of her looking fabulous. The tapes do lend an intimacy. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydAug 7, 2024
All in all, Burstein’s film feels big and perceptive, a love letter to a remarkable, interesting and very human human. Read full review
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanAug 7, 2024
Taylor’s voice is singular in its expressiveness — she is insolent, mournful, sexy, outraged, dripping with debauched delight, and always casually candid. Her words invest even the most familiar events with a revealing intimacy. Read full review
80
The New York TimesAlissa WilkinsonAug 4, 2024
It’s not just a fascinating glimpse into a woman who spent her whole life in the spotlight. It’s a chronicle of a moment when everything changed, and a sobering reminder that we often think we know who public figures are, but we rarely really understand. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonAug 1, 2024
Documentarian Nanette Burstein has a wealth of photographic material at her disposal, much of it breathtakingly lovely, and she uses it gracefully and in the noble cause of forward motion. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyAug 15, 2024
Listening to Taylor is so compelling the screen could be blank and “Lost Tapes” would still be interesting. But director Nanette Burstein keeps things visually abundant with home movies, snapshots, film stills, film clips, newsreels, publicity photos. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 1, 2024
Nanette Burstein...provides steady, no-frills direction that includes snippets of Taylor’s movies, a myriad of behind-the-scenes photos and newsreel footage; there’s a nearly endless supply of material, given Taylor starred in some 80 films and offscreen was one of the most photographed and filmed people ever. Read full review
70
The New YorkerRichard BrodyAug 1, 2024
The method is effective; “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes” is no radical advance in documentary form, but its emphasis on the auditory over the visual subtly suggests the disconnect between a private individual and her public image. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterCaryn JamesJul 31, 2024
The movie star Taylor is the one who most often comes through in the film, but that is engaging enough. Read full review
60
The GuardianLucy ManganAug 15, 2024
However partial, though, and however little new material it has to offer, even for the amateur fan like me, the film remains a heady treat. Because it is about Elizabeth Taylor. They don’t make them like they used to – and they probably never will again. Read full review
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