Black Narcissus
  • Network: FX
  • Series Premiere Date: Nov 23, 2020
Metascore
66

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
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Critic Reviews

  1. Paste Magazine
    Reviewed by: Allison Keene
    Nov 23, 2020
    89
    Despite its convent setting, Black Narcissus is not an exploration of faith or even leans particularly heavily on it. But it does, beautifully, show the ways in which the sisters quietly mark time with prayers and daily tasks—often in bare-bones and realistic ways, but occasionally including scenes like a beautifully composed Christmas vigil filled with lanterns, baking, and warm interiors.
  2. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Richard Roeper
    Nov 23, 2020
    88
    At times it’s an uneven mix of cultural period piece, forbidden romances and horror film, but it will hold your interest over the course of its binge-worthy, three-episode arc, and leave you hopeful for a follow-up, as the stories of Sister Clodagh, Mr. Dean and others are brimming with potential for further adventures.
  3. Salon
    Reviewed by: Melanie McFarland
    Jan 14, 2021
    80
    "Black Narcissus" is enchanting and heady, and most people will be perfectly fine living without it.
  5. The Times
    Reviewed by: Carol Midgley
    Jan 4, 2021
    80
    The script, by Amanda Coe (The Trial of Christine Keeler), was mostly high quality, taut, lean and restrained.
  6. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Matthew Gilbert
    Nov 19, 2020
    80
    It is succinct and well-told in the three hour-long episodes all due Monday at 8 p.m. on FX (and the next day on Hulu). But there are characters and themes that certainly could have benefited from intelligent expansion. ... Sure, three episodes of “Black Narcissus” is great, but I suspect that four might have been even better.
  7. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Hank Stuever
    Nov 23, 2020
    70
    Too long to be a movie and too short to satisfy as a miniseries, this “Black Narcissus” dabbles in being all of the above, and, alas, doesn’t fully succeed at any of them. But it doesn't deserve a thumbs-down review, either. Thanks to some excellent and at times gripping performances — especially from its lead, Gemma Arterton — “Black Narcissus” remains intriguing while never quite getting to the point of riveting.
  8. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Daniel Fienberg
    Nov 20, 2020
    70
    The result is visually beautiful. The series is solidly acted, occasionally expansive and never something I would ever choose to watch again rather than just checking in on the old friend that is the 1947 film.
  9. TV Guide Magazine
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    Nov 19, 2020
    70
    Psychologically intense and erotically charged, Black Narcissus doesn't entirely resist the temptation of lurid melodrama, but Diana Rigg brings a little dignity in one of her last roles, as the mother Superior who sends them off. [23 Nov - 6 Dec 2020, p.11]
    All this critic's reviews
  10. The Playlist
    Reviewed by: Roxana Hadadi
    Nov 17, 2020
    67
    As a cross between Sofia Coppola’s version of “The Beguiled” and Martin Scorsese’s “Silence,” “Black Narcissus” works, but anyone craving legitimate spookiness should look elsewhere.