Riefenstahl
Kino Lorber | Release Date: September 5, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The TimesKevin MaherMay 16, 2025
It’s not often that films get better on a second viewing, but this dense, challenging and intellectually rigorous documentary about “Hitler’s favourite film-maker” Leni Riefenstahl is one of those exceptions. Read full review
100
The GuardianXan BrooksJan 9, 2025
The film is at its most grimly compelling when it puts her on stage, pinned down by her accusers and fielding questions with a mix of wary contempt and sudden explosions of incandescent rage. Read full review
91
The Film StageDan MeccaSep 4, 2025
The majority of the film is driven by Riefenstahl’s own voice from various recordings. She often comes across as charming and intelligent. That is, of course, what makes her decades of denials and lies all the more disturbing. Read full review
91
The Daily BeastBarry LevittJan 9, 2025
Riefenstahl is a crushing exposé, and its most impressive trick is peeling back the layers of a very private woman to show a petulant child who can’t believe people haven’t gotten over the atrocities she willingly helped create. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleSep 17, 2025
It answers Riefenstahl’s carefully chosen narrative, a fable of disillusioned purity, with an equally forensic counternarrative exposing her childlike narcissism about the impact of her talent. More disquietingly, she reveals a selective ignorance regarding the circumstances that brought her power and recognition. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalZachary BarnesSep 4, 2025
The portrait that emerges is that of a fanatical protector of her public image, a movie star turned director for whom the camera was a miraculous and endlessly manipulable tool, no matter which side of it she was on. Read full review
90
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJan 9, 2025
With fresh access to her personal, self-serving and -aggrandising archives, Veiel lets Riefenstahl speak unedited: she puts a lot of issues to rest through her own lies, evasions and unrelentingly difficult personality. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comRobert DanielsSep 19, 2025
By making a film that says there is no complicated legacy to Riefenstahl, Veiel’s uncomplicated approach, supported by Riefenstahl’s own words, is strongly rendered into a direct, inarguable slashing of Riefenstahl’s importance. Read full review
80
Film ThreatSabina Dana PlasseSep 5, 2025
Veiel not only provides details of letters and images throughout Riefenstahl but also constructs a story of filmmaking through his own film. He conveys the emotion of “how could she” using selective footage and placement, timed interviews, behind-the-scenes actions, and subtle narration, allowing imagery to tell a story for the viewer to decide their side. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla DargisSep 4, 2025
Veiel’s documentary is a welcome addition to the historically grounded rebukes to Riefenstahl and her apologists, including bad feminists. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeMay 8, 2025
Veiel structures his film with grace and guile. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 7, 2025
Andres Veiel’s sombre documentary tells the gripping, incrementally nauseating story of Helene “Leni” Riefenstahl, the brilliant and pioneering German film-maker of the 20th century who isn’t getting her name on a Girls on Tops T-shirt any time soon. Read full review
80
The Film VerdictDeborah YoungJan 9, 2025
Leni Riefenstahl and her controversial legacy are examined in fascinating depth in the new German doc 'Riefenstahl' by Andres Veiel. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineEli FriedbergSep 1, 2025
If there’s still anyone uncritically repeating Riefenstahl’s narrative of naïveté, they’ll find it hard to sustain by the end credits. Read full review
75
IndieWireChristian BlauveltJan 9, 2025
Veiel and Maischberger build a compelling case that she was in fact a Nazi, right up until the end of her life. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanJan 9, 2025
It’s a portrait that’s really a meditation on Riefenstahl — her life, her art, the question of her guilt. And one of the things it does is to remind you of what a singularly provocative and insidious and mysterious figure she was. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergJan 9, 2025
I got bogged down frequently in the familiarity and intentional messiness of the story that Veiel and producer Sandra Maischberger chose to tell, while at the same time wondering what sense a wholly unaware viewer would be able to make of this woman and the long shadow she still casts. Read full review
More From This Movie

82 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL