65
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91The Film StageGiovanni Marchini CamiaThe Film StageGiovanni Marchini CamiaApart from a middle stretch during which the narrative loses momentum and Staying Vertical feels temporarily aimless – something that Guiraudie soon rectifies by amping up the weirdness – the film is as engaging and consistently uproarious as it is perplexing.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijThe Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijStaying Vertical slowly morphs into something closer to a dark — and darkly funny — myth or fairytale, though this transformation isn’t entirely smooth.
- 70Screen DailyAllan HunterScreen DailyAllan HunterExploring a bewildering range of issues from ideas of masculinity to assisted suicide and the fraying of societal ties, Staying Vertical is wildly eccentric, darkly comic and filled with you-don’t-see-that-often moments which are liable to render it an acquired taste.
- 60CineVueJohn BleasdaleCineVueJohn BleasdaleGuiraudie's humour is self-referential and at times hilarious. His tendency to shock might seem adolescent but he's also careful to identify taboos that perhaps shouldn't be taboos at all.
- 50The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangIt’s less a convincing, involving narrative than an episodic picaresque that rambles loose-jointedly from absurdist encounter to vaguely fable-like incident.
- 40The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawAn incoherent, inconsequential picture which sometimes looks worryingly as if it is being made up as it goes along.
- 40VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanThe technical bravura that Guiraudie summoned in “Stranger” — the subtle manipulation of light, weather, shot language, and temporal cunning — now falls by the wayside in a story that lurches from episode to disconnected episode.