69
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisThe story grips you entirely even if Ms. Denis’s worldview here finally feels like a tomb: terrifying, pitiless, inevitable.
- 88Slant MagazineJesse CataldoSlant MagazineJesse CataldoConditioning the audience to find dread in every seemingly innocent gesture, the film turns even the simplest touch between family members into something tinged with menace.
- 80VarietyScott FoundasVarietyScott FoundasEven at its most opaque, Bastards always exerts a dreamlike pull rooted in Denis’ rhythmic layerings of image, sound and music.
- 80Time OutTime OutIf Bastards is cold, it’s never clinical; rather, it’s a fully engaged, deeply moral movie about people who are neither.
- 80The DissolveScott TobiasThe DissolveScott TobiasDenis’ atmospherics, as usual, carry the day.
- 67The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangThe Bastards feels like what happens when an undeniably great filmmaker stoops to sensationalism -- it’s a smarter, odder film than someone else would make with the same material, but it’s still smart, odd sensationalism.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyA stylishly made but unyielding drama.
- 50IndieWireEric KohnIndieWireEric KohnBogged down by flashbacks and flash forwards, The Bastards pointlessly mixes up its ingredients, creating a distancing effect from the tangible sadness at its core. The result is the rare case of a movie that confirms its maker's skill while wasting it on useless ambition.
- 50Village VoiceNick SchagerVillage VoiceNick SchagerStyle can't fully compensate for a tale that, underneath its gorgeous affectations, proves undercooked, especially during a third act that provides duly titillating answers to its initially beguiling mysteries.
- 40The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawDenis's drama intrigues more than it actually delivers...Sleight of hand is all well and good. But sooner or later a film must pay up.