The Unknown Woman
Outsider Pictures | Release Date: May 30, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
The final act is all but guaranteed to astonish and satisfy. See this movie. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Sweet, however, are the uses of melodrama in the skilled hands of Tornatore, for he transcends the lurid and the coincidental with range, depth and insight, and a bold, confident, suspenseful style, to create a fable of love and redemption. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Russian-born Xenia Rappoport gives it her tragic-heroine all as an abused Ukraine prostitute-turned-sneaky housemaid in Italy in The Unknown Woman. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It's a spellbinder with a lot of Hitchcock touches and an Ennio Morricone score to match. But does it play fair with us? Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's an elegant nail-biter. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
The melodrama form allows Tornatore to examine such current issues as human trafficking and black-market babies within a yarn that, for all its sentiment, is never less than gripping. Read full review
70
VarietyDeborah Young
Brings peaks of violence and suspense to the vivid story of a young East European prostitute-turned-cleaning lady intent on carrying out a mysterious mission in Italy. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The film is flat-out gorgeous and contains moments of sheer lunacy. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Ms. Rappoport’s sturdy performance helps keep this outlandish melodrama from collapsing into unintended comedy. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Rappoport is a powerhouse performer but the movie is an unstable concoction of political melodrama, film noir, and weepie. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
It's an exceptionally well-made example of the kind of delirious, semi-Gothic, overcooked melodrama filmmakers from the Boot have long specialized in. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The movie's one flaw is this: The whole movie hangs on the gradual unraveling of the central mystery and is made with the expectation that the audience is fascinated and hanging on every tidbit. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The movie looks great at least, and the cast includes such stalwarts of Italian cinema as Claudia Gerini and Pierfrancesco Favino. Read full review
40
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Falters when it falls into exploitation (Irena's flashbacks to scenes of depraved sexual torture) and fatal contrivance. Read full review
20
Village VoiceElla Taylor
Repellent piece of garbage. Read full review
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