Z
Valoria Films | Release Date: December 8, 1969 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It is a film of our time. It is about how even moral victories are corrupted. It will make you weep and will make you angry. It will tear your guts out. Read full review
100
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
A chilling, manipulative rollercoaster ride. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyChris Nashawaty
A pulse-pounding procedural that pieces together the murder of a left-wing youth leader (Yves Montand). A baroque government cover-up is foiled by a tenacious inspector (Jean-?Louis Trintignant) whose rat-a-tat interrogations are like machine-gun fire. This is an amazing film. Read full review
100
The New York TimesVincent Canby
An immensely entertaining movie -- a topical melodrama that manipulates our emotional responses and appeals to our best prejudices in such satisfying ways that it is likely to be mistaken as a work of fine -- rather than popular -- movie art. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A '60s landmark. [31 Oct 2003, p.C6]
91
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Like its spiritual predecessor The Battle Of Algiers, Z is as much a mini-revolution as it is a movie, actively engaging in a political battle as it was unfolding. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
The story of the "accidental" death of a peacenik politician (Yves Montand) and the investigator (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who unravels a right-wing conspiracy remains as fresh as a head wound. Read full review
90
SlateDana Stevens
Z makes political intelligence seem chicer than skinny neckties. Read full review
90
The New YorkerPauline Kael
One of the fastest, most exciting melodramas ever made.
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Hollywood political thrillers have absorbed this movie's you-are-there filmmaking grammar. Rarely have they re-created its fire. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Z is disquieting not only because the events actually happened, but because we sense they could happen again, closer to home. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Avoiding the hyperbole and condescension that sometimes make it easy for ideological foes to dismiss the likes of Oliver Stone or Michael Moore, Costa-Gavras relies on the sterling performances of his actors (including Irene Papas as Montand's widow), and was rewarded with a pair of Oscar nominations. Read full review
80
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
The recreation of the murder and the subsequent investigation uses the techniques of an American thriller to gripping effect, though conspiracies are so commonplace nowadays that it's hard to imagine the impact it made at the time. Read full review
80
Village VoiceNicolas Rapold
The film’s state of play is still less exciting than its famous ancestor (Battle of Algiers) and offspring (The French Connection), but the military junta that ensued in Greece gave the film (shot in Algeria) a sense of urgency approved by Cannes and Oscar alike. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid Parkinson
Costa-Gravas at his hypocrisy and oppression-fighting best. Read full review
70
Village VoiceAndrew Sarris
Reasonably effective entertainment. [11 Dec 1969, p.55]
70
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Z is a punchy political pic [from the novel by Vassilis Vassilikos] that mixes action, violence, and conspiracy on a robust, lavish scale. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineBill Weber
Forty years on, it’s still an eye-catching, fast-paced watch, but the plaudits it won as an uncompromising thriller and landmark cinema seem as shaky as the film’s villainous military officers’ insistence that its central murder was an accident. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderDave Kehr
Z doesn't communicate anything—except for the doubtful propositions that pacifists are more threatening to right-wingers than communists and that fascist terrorism and homosexuality go hand in hand. Read full review
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