Venus in Fur
Sundance Selects | Release Date: June 20, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
10
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJul 11, 2014
Wickedly smart and wickedly playful, Roman Polanski's adaptation of David Ives' Tony-nominated Venus in Fur works on so many levels, it's almost dizzying. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyJul 3, 2014
It is a caustic, comic, cerebral romp for a long time before it hits you with its best shot — some Polanski-worthy darkness. Read full review
90
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekJun 17, 2014
Polanski orchestrates this cat-and-mouse game with devilish delight, dancing around Ives's play as if it were a pagan bonfire, jabbing at it with his figurative pitchfork. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jun 18, 2014
Polanski isn’t a miracle worker. Venus In Fur works where the facile "Carnage" largely didn’t because the play itself is something of a delight — a straightforward but sharply comic twofer about roleplaying and control-based relationships (be they artistic, romantic, or otherwise). The casting, too, is impeccable. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJun 23, 2014
Miraculously, he (Polanski) brightens the faded material, and conjures his most graceful work in years. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJun 20, 2014
Venus in Fur is both kinky and can pass as a form of self-flagellation. One additional, not-small thing: It allows him to demonstrate, with a minimum of means, his superb craftsmanship. Read full review
80
SlateDana StevensJun 20, 2014
Above all else, Venus in Fur is a sharp, sexy comedy (adapted by Ives and Polanski from a translation by Abel Gerschenfeld) performed by two superb and superbly in-tune actors, and directed with a sure hand by a filmmaker who’s clearly not cowed by the challenge of blowing up a two-person chamber piece for the screen. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 19, 2014
What is beyond dispute is the sheer exuberant virtuosity Ms. Seigner and Mr. Amalric bring to the material. Read full review
80
Time OutKeith UhlichJun 17, 2014
Like :Carnage,: it’s a bit of a minor lark until a deliciously grotesque finale pushes it into the realm of such kinkily profound Polanski films as: Cul-de-sac: (1966) and "The Tenant" (1976). By that point, you can’t help but submit to the perversity. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonDave CalhounMay 30, 2014
As the actors move fluidly between various states, shedding one skin while assuming another, Polanski makes this subversive parlour game matter. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMay 27, 2013
There’s a masterfully light touch at work, both from the director and his two wonderful actors. They make this chamber piece lip-smacking entertainment, giving the dense text the semblance of more intellectual heft or sexual transgression than it ultimately contains. Read full review
75
Washington PostStephanie MerryJul 11, 2014
This may not be Roman Polanski’s finest movie; it may not even be his best adaptation of a play. But it’s masterfully done in a way that does justice to its source material. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrJul 10, 2014
“Venus in Fur,” the 2010 David Ives play that conquered off-Broadway in 2010 and Broadway in 2011, has been thoroughly and maliciously Romanized. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 10, 2014
Pay attention to the camera, and you will see that Polanski is a clinician. He is in the thrall of no one. Read full review
75
NPRBob MondelloJun 20, 2014
The sexual tension in Venus in Fur acquires a few specifically Polanski-esque layers. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithJun 18, 2014
It isn’t quite as clever as it thinks. This is one of those man-written feminist parables that looks an awful lot like a Penthouse art director’s idea of a feminist parable. Read full review
75
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJun 17, 2014
As slight as Venus feels, it’s just titillating enough to matter, just twisted enough — Really, casting your wife and a guy who looks like you? — to suggest that even in his 70s, even with virtually no budget, Polanski can deliver a compelling walk on the kinky side. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoApr 22, 2014
After years of respectable filmmaking, it's refreshing to witness a reinvigorated Roman Polanski willing to once again delve deep into seedy psychodrama. Read full review
70
The DissolveNoel MurrayJun 18, 2014
Polanski’s direction of Venus In Fur is masterful—a pleasure in and of itself—but Seigner is the star attraction here, giving one of the best performances of her distinguished career. Read full review
70
Film.comJordan HoffmanOct 23, 2013
Despite being very much a “filmed play” it doesn’t come across as too theatrical. Polanski uses plenty of close-ups and keeps the action moving. Read full review
70
VarietyScott FoundasMay 27, 2013
A delightfully intricate battle of wits and wills in which the question of who’s directing/seducing/torturing whom remains constantly shifting open to interpretation. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisSep 3, 2014
Casting Seigner in the coveted role of Vanda in this adaptation of David Ives’ Tony-winning play may strike some as nepotistic (she’s married to director Polanski), but her performance stands on its own. It’s deliciously self-conscious. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelJul 11, 2014
The performances are certainly compelling. Read full review
60
CineVueJohn BleasdaleMay 30, 2014
At its very best his Venus in Fur is a clever and often comical two-hander, with Amalric and Seigner both giving tour de force performances. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid HughesMay 26, 2014
Polanski’s unavoidably stagy adaptation of David Ives’ celebrated Broadway play is an enjoyably witty two-hander, confined to its theatre setting, yet with much to say about gender roles in the world beyond. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 27, 2013
This is a fun piece of play-acting for as long as it lasts, but it never quite feels like much more. Things may become kinky in front of the lens, but you can sense Polanski lurking behind it throughout, always ready with his safe-word. Cut! Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 27, 2013
Venus In Fur is a playful if occasionally heavy-handed jeu d'ésprit on the subject of sexual role-play, the games we all play, illusion and reality, and directing as a sexual act. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJul 5, 2014
The film has a creepy allure but, as movies featuring full-bore sexual gamesmanship often do, it wears thin. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernJun 19, 2014
What is surprising is how little Polanski juices the material with his usual devilish touch. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 14, 2014
The exploration of gender politics grows tedious as the gender dynamic between the two leads reverses, and the same points are hammered home again and again. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJun 20, 2014
Too bad it isn't a wickeder, subtler, more imaginative movie. Read full review
50
The PlaylistJessica KiangMay 27, 2013
With the themes of this play not exactly subtle or delicate, particularly at the climax, it all becomes a bit grating -- inescapable in its heavy-handedness. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJun 19, 2014
Polanski views things so mischievously that the naughtiness is neutered long before sniveling Thomas is tied to a pole. He’s a captive not only to Vanda, but also to all the dull, reductive mind games. Read full review
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