The Great Museum
Kino Lorber | Release Date: April 24, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyApr 23, 2015
In every sense, The Great Museum (Das grosse Museum) imparts a feeling of privilege — privilege on the part of those (the Hapsburgs) who built and opened Vienna's extraordinary Kunsthistorisches Museum in 1891, privilege among those lucky enough to work at such a rarified establishment and privilege on the part of any viewer of Johannes Holzhausen's wonderfully evocative and droll documentary. Read full review
80
CineVueD.W. MaultApr 23, 2015
The Great Museum is a beautiful love letter to obsession and eccentricity, the love is given and received in equal measure. This, at its nature is what art should do, and what cinema strives for and rarely achieves, with this poetic discourse about the difficult question of what to do with the art of robber barons in relation towards a finality that befits such a collection. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineClayton DillardApr 19, 2015
The ghostliness of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna derives from an identity crisis, where digitization threatens to eradicate the gallery space. Read full review
70
VarietyJay WeissbergApr 23, 2015
There are no interviews, thankfully no voiceovers, and no music; Holzhausen respects the viewer’s intelligence, just as he respects the museum staff. Read full review
70
Village VoiceSerena DonadoniApr 23, 2015
Holzhausen is respectful but not reverential, portraying the museum as a living thing that's being cared for with meticulous diligence. Read full review
60
EmpireAli PlumbApr 23, 2015
In avoiding narration, interviews, music or any traditional method to draw the audience in, the film has a cold, unengaging feel, leaving it mostly for art buffs who like seeing taxidermied bears having their hair fastidiously cleaned with a tiny toothbrush. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 23, 2015
A pleasing, high-minded film; also something of a palate-cleanser. Read full review
50
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergApr 23, 2015
The Great Museum, in comparison, feels like a cursory guided tour. Read full review
50
The DissolveAndrew LapinApr 23, 2015
The film creates a kind of romantic view of the minutiae of running a museum, yet it’s barely concerned with the actual artwork housed within. Maybe this won’t matter to the audience, if they find the mere idea of a museum fascinating on its own. Read full review
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