Knife + Heart
| Release Date: March 15, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Film ThreatLorry KiktaApr 1, 2019
I highly suggest seeking out Knife+Heart if you like 70s & 80s B-movie and exploitation films. This was a spot-on homage to the beloved genre. It’s hilarious and haunting and genuinely beautiful, an ambitious film that the more prudish amongst us will be squirming in their seats during. So this is definitely not something to go see with your parents, regardless of your and their ages. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshMar 21, 2019
This magical, erotic, disco-tinged horror-thriller is like cinematic candy. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleDanielle WhiteApr 10, 2019
For all the accurate comparisons to Brian De Palma and Italian giallo films – particularly in the murder scenes and M83’s synthy score, though it’s much more narratively cohesive – I see lots of other potential influences as well. There’s a seedy glamour and a noir sensibility that owes as much to Eighties films Vortex and Variety. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeOct 4, 2018
The gauzy cinematography also helps, as does the mise-en-scène, which poses Anne’s chosen family of proud perverts in studied tableaus reminiscent of the Renaissance masters. Only, you know, in a porno. Read full review
83
The Film StageRory O'ConnorMay 19, 2018
It is a film that will entice the viewer’s senses, if not necessarily their brain activity. Read full review
80
Little White LiesAnton BitelApr 5, 2022
The result is a luridly coloured, transgressively queered piece of self-conscious schlock where cutting is the business of lovesick killers as much as filmmakers – and both cut right to the heart. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Simran HansJul 7, 2019
Variously gorgeous, ethereal, artful and tacky, both Anne’s film and Gonzalez’s are sustained by a throbbing sexual energy, aided by French electronic act M83’s twinkling, club‑inspired score. Read full review
80
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMar 14, 2019
This movie packs in plenty of cinema acrobatics and spectacle without ever feeling out of control, even as it morphs into a far-fetched whodunit. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerMay 19, 2018
Knife hits you from its very first frame — and this is really a frame of celluloid and not a file of gigabytes — as a work engulfed in the pleasures of filmmaking's past. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsMar 15, 2019
I often rolled my eyes at the kitschy, broad humor that Knife+Heart director Yann Gonzalzez (who co-wrote the film with Cristiano Mangione) sometimes used to characterize his sexually active queer characters. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeMay 19, 2018
Gonzalez has mastered the art of creating atmosphere and tone, but not tension, and the movie feels meandering and slow at times, since audiences are not invested in anyone’s survival. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd May 19, 2018
Knife + Heart sometimes feels as rough around the edges and inelegantly plotted as its pornos-within-the-movie, but maybe that’s just conceptual consistency. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 19, 2018
For a giallo riff so light on gore, Knife + Heart is still a bloody mess. Read full review
60
CineVueMartyn ConterioMay 19, 2018
Gonzalez can be masterful in conjuring sexy imagery, febrile moods and erotic frissons, but his grip on the storytelling here is weak. Knife + Heart struggles to regain its initial momentum, falling flat until a lively climax. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChuck BowenMar 12, 2019
The film quickly settles into a holding pattern of repetitive porno-movie hijinks and increasingly listless murder scenes. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonMay 19, 2018
A film drunk on its own trashy, lurid aesthetic, Knife + Heart (Un Couteau Dans Le Coeur) has style to burn but not as much sense. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 19, 2018
It really is strange, a film with what is actually a pretty good premise for a comedy, but with no interest in actually being a comedy and also no interest in being a thriller, or even that mysterious erotic parable that it seems to be claiming to be. Read full review
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