The Fence
| Release Date: TBA CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
VarietyGuy LodgeSep 30, 2025
Many things are simple in The Fence, an unusually sharp-cornered and rhetorical work from this typically elliptical and sensuous filmmaker, but the rage swelling beneath its still, mannered surface is not. Read full review
75
TheWrapChase HutchinsonSep 11, 2025
Even as Dillon is the one with more to do and dialogue to speak, it’s an outstanding De Bankolé who holds the camera with such intensity that you don’t dare look away for even a second. Read full review
67
IndieWireVikram MurthiSep 12, 2025
The deterministic narrative drive of “The Fence” ultimately proves to be the film’s undoing. At some point, the film eventually goes through the motions until its inevitable downbeat climax, at which point its dramatic shortcomings become difficult to ignore. Read full review
67
The Film StageEthan VestbySep 12, 2025
Being based on Bernard-Marie Koltès’s play Black Battles with Dogs, its stagey origins serve it to both effective and detrimental ends, and also point to someone just wanting to knock out an adaptation of something they liked rather quickly. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineKeith UhlichSep 30, 2025
The late Bernard-Marie Koltès’s 1979 play isn’t opened up so much as clinically dissected by the film, with every character an enfeebled pawn in situations they’re at a loss to resolve. Read full review
60
Screen DailyNikki BaughanOct 7, 2025
Essentially a four-handed chamber piece of sorts, this adaptation deals with powder-keg themes of the colonial psyche, racial tensions and retribution, but ultimately proves too stilted and stagey to pack much of a punch. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerSep 12, 2025
The difference here is how explicitly that tragedy appears, whereas the director built much of her best work on nuance and suggestion — on the viewer experiencing events rather than fully grasping them. The Fence features some of that moody allusiveness as well, but ultimately plays like the minor work of a still major filmmaker. Read full review
42
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezSep 16, 2025
The Fence presents a theatrical style that paralyzes the film into a tense but frustrating checkmate for much of its running time. Read full review
40
Next Best PictureDavid CuevasSep 19, 2025
Denis’ directorial prowess stems from her immaculate compositions, an iconic aspect of her oeuvre that’s diluted by her overt reliance on Koltès’ dialogue-dependent source material. Read full review
40
The GuardianRichard LawsonSep 12, 2025
In some ways, the film is hallmark Denis, flinty and strange and sometimes inscrutable. But it is also a disappointment, a leaden film whose points Denis has made more convincingly elsewhere. Read full review
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