Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion [re-release]
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: April 4, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
89
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Time OutDavid Fear
A paranoid police procedural, a perverse parable about the corrupting elements of power, and a candidate for the greatest predated Patriot Act movie ever, Elio Petri's stunning thriller makes no attempt to hide the culprit behind the film's grisly murder. Read full review
100
VarietyStaff [Not credited]
Balkan probably gives her best performance to date to create a woman tormented by instability, sexual drive and psycho demons -- disjointedly portrayed in the script. Read full review
90
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The film may have dated as a cautionary left-wing tale, yet it has stayed fresh as a study in the minutiae of power. [1 Oct. 2012, p.85]
90
The New York TimesVincent Canby
Although Mr. Petri quite consciously makes movies about ideas, he has, in his "Investigation," made a movie in which the ideas, and the man who seethes with them, have the shock and impact of the most fundamental kind of melodrama. Read full review
90
Village VoiceElliott Stein
Petri's visually flamboyant film turns into a heady mix of Marx, Freud, Wilhelm Reich, and Brecht, with a bit of Dashiell Hammett thrown into the blender. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
The movie survives beautifully both as an elegant thriller and as a study of the twisted infantilism that shapes the fanatic heart. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A provocative political thriller that is as troubling today as when it came out in 1970. Maybe more so. Read full review
80
The DissolveKeith Phipps
As specific as the film is to Italy at the turn of the turbulent 1970s, it’s also a film about how power first corrupts, then makes mad those who possess it. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not credited)
A piercing satire of Italian investigative techniques, and an interesting meditation on the relationship between class and guilt. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Like all good directors who make films about their own obsessions, Petri transmits an obsessive feeling in the film itself. "Investigation of a Citizen" is stylistically disconnected, but it works because it is absolutely fascinated with the nature of the inspector. Read full review
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