Performance
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: May 11, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
0
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Put Roeg's powerful cinematic style on the cultural map. Read full review
100
BBCJonathan Crocker
Uncorked in 1970, it's a shocking crime thriller, a time-capsule of Swinging 60s London and a fizzy intellectual headtrip all whisked into one astonishing film. Read full review
100
Total FilmStaff (Not Credited)
Fuelled by Cammell's whacked-out erudition and lensed with tyro brilliance by Roeg, this hallucinogenic deconstruction of identity writhes with sex, substances, ultraviolence and good ol' rock'n'roll. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
An amazing film, still a shocker after all these years. [07 Sep 2001, p.C1]
90
The DissolveKeith Phipps
Co-directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg—the latter then a top-rank cinematographer making his directorial debut—it begins as a nasty slice of British underworld life, and ends as a psychedelic excursion into insanity. Read full review
80
EmpireKim Newman
After Ned Kelly, Jagger needed a hit and Performance was it. Although playing a rock star probably wasn't the greatest challenge, he more than holds his own against Fox in a psychedelic classic. Read full review
80
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Roeg's debut as a director is a virtuoso juggling act which manipulates its visual and verbal imagery so cunningly that the borderline between reality and fantasy is gradually eliminated. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
There's some great Pinteresque dialogue, and the murky gloom is illuminated with flashes of genius. [07 May 2004, p.15]
80
The Observer (UK)Philip French
It's an exhilarating commentary on Swinging London in its dying days and the worlds of popular music and crime, with the disturbing paintings of Francis Bacon and the fascinating fictions of Jorge Luis Borges as influences. [11 Mar 2007, p.14]
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Performance is a bizarre, disconnected attempt to link the inhabitants of two kinds of London underworlds: pop stars and gangsters. It isn’t altogether successful, largely because it tries too hard and doesn’t pace itself to let its effects sink in. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderDavid Kehr
The narrative decays more quickly than the characters. Read full review
30
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Performance seems more like eye candy than castor oil in the brave new world of "Freddy Got Fingered." Read full review
30
The New York TimesJohn Simon
The film progresses by what I imagine a series of electro‐shocks to be like, but a shock treatment administered not by a therapist but by a misprogrammed computer. Read full review
30
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Co-director Nicolas Roeg’s lensing is tricky, the characters gamey, the dialog dull, performances flat, impact none. Read full review
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