The Double Hour
Samuel Goldwyn Films | Release Date: April 15, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaApr 28, 2011
A beautiful, head-spinning mystery that requires keen attention - and rewards it with a tricky and poetic payoff - The Double Hour is a topflight Euro thriller right up there with "Tell No One." Read full review
100
The New York TimesStephen HoldenApr 14, 2011
The best movie of its kind since the French director Guillaume Canet's hit from 2006, "Tell No One." Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumMay 11, 2011
Nothing in this enjoyably twisty, cool/ hot, genre-grafting Italian psychological thriller by Giuseppe Capotondi is what it seems. And the more you try to solve the narrative puzzle, the more you may want to watch it again - or at least argue about what's real. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 12, 2011
I've seen the fabulously acted Italian thriller The Double Hour twice now, and for all its intricate manipulations, it stays with me for a very simple reason: The love story at its bittersweet heart is played for keeps. Read full review
85
MovielineMichelle OrangeApr 14, 2011
To say too much about what actually happens would be to rob you of the film's risks and narrative ripostes. What should be noted is that Capotondi makes ambitious use of an unreliable narrator in a way that is rarely seen in modern films. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJun 8, 2011
Like the genre's top filmmakers - the Coens, Polanski, Hitchcock - Capotondi builds dread with wicked winks at the audience, dropping subtle surprises along the way. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnApr 16, 2011
At its core, The Double Hour is a classic noir story of deception. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 2, 2011
A tremendously entertaining take on film noir, with all the usual elements of the genre in play - crime, death, possibly murder and doomed romance. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderBen SachsMay 12, 2011
As the heroine, Rappoport creates an exquisite, multifaceted character from the old film noir archetype of a woman in flight; in this case she's fleeing not only danger but herself. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranApr 28, 2011
For what makes this tale something more than a puzzle to be solved is a level of emotional impact that genre exercises don't often provide, emotion traceable to sensitive acting that is similarly rare. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierApr 15, 2011
A twisty Italian thriller that takes some liberties with its now-you-see-'em/now-you-don't plot points, but no matter; the way director Giuseppe Capotondi keeps us guessing is deliciously, maliciously deft. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoMay 12, 2011
The movie's mixture of romance and noir, its air of menace and a certain occasional playfulness suggest the filmmakers have been thinking about Polanski and Hitchcock. Read full review
70
VarietyBoyd van HoeijApr 12, 2011
Not so much a genre movie as a movie that switches between genres -- and comes out on top. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerApr 16, 2011
Capotondi keeps circling his movie in and out of dream states and waking states as the whodunit morphs into who-cares-who-dunit? Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayApr 14, 2011
Pretty to look at, making good use of the scenery in and around Turin; if nothing else, the runaway plot keeps the movie unpredictable. Read full review
63
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreJun 8, 2011
Not a neat and tidy thriller. It is a most engrossing one, commanding our attention even as the filmmaker tries to slip this or that hole in the plot past us. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrApr 28, 2011
What appears at first to be a Euro variation on David Lynch's patented mind games, though, ultimately settles for more conventional pleasures. The movie makes sense, more's the pity, although you may need to see it twice to figure out how. Read full review
63
New York PostLou LumenickApr 15, 2011
Doesn't always deliver on its twists. But it works well enough that an American remake is in the works. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid FearApr 12, 2011
Here's the thing: We enjoy a good mindf--- lark as much as the next filmgoer, but such fluid tomfoolery eventually has to add up to something, and The Double Hour ultimately doesn't. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineTim CogshellApr 12, 2011
The twists and turns in The Double Hour are not arbitrary; rather, they are well considered and effective, right down to the last frame. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterNatasha SenjanovicApr 12, 2011
A smart psychological thriller with the one fatal flaw that Slavic women in Italian television and cinema must be dark, tormented characters who hardly ever smile. In a criminal caper with a twist, this actually works against the story. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie OgleNov 3, 2011
As it spins along at a reasonably good clip - no one is going to mistake it for the slicker, more action-packed "Salt" - The Double unravels its secrets, which prove to be its undoing. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJun 9, 2011
Ultimately a mystery box that lacks a treasure at its core. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNick PinkertonApr 12, 2011
The Double Hour sustains a minimum of attention thanks to the naturally beguiling presence of long-stemmed Rappoport-but what might've a less cautious director done with the material? Read full review
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