Vortex
Utopia | Release Date: April 29, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Irish TimesTara BradyMay 13, 2022
Unnervingly naturalistic performances from two cinematic legends – the great Italian giallo master Dario Argento, the great Italian giallo master and the star of La Maman et La Putain – add to the sense of loss. Read full review
100
CineVueChristopher MachellMay 13, 2022
The Argentinian director’s follow-up to 2019’s Lux Æterna is a typically difficult watch, subjecting us to the grinding indignities of old age, but it also a deeply moving study of lifelong love and loyalty to the bitter end. Read full review
100
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 12, 2022
Vortex tells us something else about old age, something which a severe and high-minded movie like Michael Haneke’s Amour would not grasp: death is chaotic, like life. It ends with things undone and in messy disarray. This is a work of wintry maturity, and real compassion. Read full review
100
Original-CinLiam LaceyMay 9, 2022
Apart from the inspired split-screen gimmick, the film works because the cast is superb, with Argento as the impatient, angry old lion holding on to his threads of power. Lebrun’s performance, though, is the heart of the film. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyApr 29, 2022
One leaves Vortex feeling cleansed by fire. Read full review
100
The GuardianXan BrooksJul 16, 2021
Noé’s extraordinary film unfolds as a tale of murmured terrors and nameless dread, creeping softly around a cramped Paris apartment like a cinematic Grim Reaper. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubLuke Y. ThompsonMay 4, 2022
Vortex looks unsparingly at characters at the end of life, and finds their experiences as scary as any traditional horror tale. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangMay 6, 2022
It is a remarkable piece of filmmaking, rigorously controlled in ways that he doesn’t always evince: It’s a bone-deep sensory immersion that never feels merely sensationalist, anchored by two performances of astonishing commitment and emotional power. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriApr 29, 2022
There’s an unflinching, near-clinical relentlessness to the picture, but therein lies its compassion and empathy. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. ScottApr 28, 2022
Among the comforts Vortex refuses is the bittersweet balm of nostalgia. It’s a blunt reckoning with the inevitability of loss, including the loss of memory. We dream for a while, and then we sleep. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisMay 5, 2022
Unrelenting and inconsolable, with a smattering of compassionate moments, the superb Vortex brings to mind an observation attributed to actress Bette Davis, no less: Getting old ain’t for sissies. Read full review
88
Washington PostHau ChuMay 5, 2022
It’s tempting to call the semi-autobiographical film — inspired by both the death of Noé’s mother and his own recovery from a brain hemorrhage (and subsequent sobriety) — Noé’s most personal movie. But what makes Vortex stand out is its cruel universality. Read full review
85
TheWrapJason SolomonsJul 17, 2021
With its uncommonly human touch and restless, unflinching visual aesthetic, Vortex might well be Noe’s finest and most thoughtful work. Read full review
83
The PlaylistJessica KiangJul 17, 2021
Doubtless, due to Noé’s own real-world experiences, “Vortex” is a success, if a dolorous one: a dignified, sometimes desperate tribute to, as the dedication reads, “all those whose minds will decompose before their hearts.” Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnJul 17, 2021
The filmmaker has made a rather soulful look at what it means to grasp onto life in its waning moments, and invites his audience into the center of that dilemma. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeMay 15, 2022
There’s a despairing inevitability to the film’s incremental pacing – we feel every aching minute of the nearly two-and-a-half-hour running time. It’s not exactly fun, but it’s a relentlessly powerful piece of film-making. Read full review
80
NMEElla KempMay 13, 2022
Vortex might act as a balm to some viewers who see themselves in this quietly tragic family portrait. But, if you’ve ever had even the smallest existential fear of growing older and dying, or watching this happen to people you love, tread carefully around this one. Read full review
80
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyMay 13, 2022
Is Noé suddenly feeling self-reflective? Not to be contrarian for the sake of it, but I struggle to find anything gentle or humanistic in Vortex. That’s what’s so mesmerising about it. It is the ringing of the death knell, a memento mori in action, and an alienating if ultimately deeply humbling experience for its audience. Read full review
80
Screen DailyJonathan RomneyJul 23, 2021
It’s his most mature film, an unabashedly and audaciously experimental work. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijJul 17, 2021
The hushed closing reels are unusual in Noé’s oeuvre in that they generate straightforward empathy and emotion without falling back on gimmicks, trickery or shock tactics. Read full review
75
Slant MagazinePat BrownJul 20, 2021
Merciless but affecting, Vortex suggests that one respite from the loneliness of life lived in the shadow of death is the realm of dreams. Read full review
75
The Film StageRory O'ConnorJul 17, 2021
At 145 minutes, few locations, and very little dialogue, this unflinching look at the fate that awaits us is anything but expeditious—yet it demands to be seen, a radical film with as much capacity to shock as it does to burden the tear ducts. It is amongst his very best. Read full review
70
The New YorkerRichard BrodyApr 29, 2022
For all its observational realism, Vortex is a message movie, a work of philosophical art that packs a grim view not merely of old age but of modern life over all. Read full review
60
EmpireCaitlin QuinlanMay 13, 2022
Strong performances carry this unyielding portrait of dementia and elderly suffering that marks an interesting shift for Noé, but its relentless efforts to inflict sorrow and pain can feel overdone. Read full review
60
Little White LiesAdam WoodwardMay 13, 2022
If this is Noé at his most compassionate and vulnerable, it’s telling that Vortex ultimately lacks the raw emotional impact of Michael Haneke’s Amour, another brutally honest, skilfully acted chamber piece about dementia and death, or Florian Zeller’s more recent The Father. Read full review
60
Time OutPhil de SemlyenMay 12, 2022
This is obviously a deeply personal subject for Noé, who has spoken about experiencing the fallout of dementia first-hand. But while his film gradually pummels you, it can’t match 2021’s superb dementia chamber piece The Father for impact or insight. As it grinds towards its slightly contrived ending, it does start to feel like rubbernecking. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekApr 29, 2022
So much of Vortex is stirring, compelling, upsetting. But a greater share is merely numbing in its depressive showiness. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanApr 29, 2022
Vortex doesn’t let us off the hook. Gaspar Noé never does. But if he did, he might transcend his “Behold, you will know the dark side” brand. Read full review
55
Paste MagazineBrianna ZiglerSep 27, 2021
Vortex, while visually captivating, only functions as a window through which to look at death detached from the beauty of life. Read full review
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