---
title: "Death and the Maiden: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/death-and-the-maiden/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/death-and-the-maiden"
critics_score: 66
critics_reviews: 7
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Death and the Maiden (1994): what the critics said

Critics' score 66 from 7 reviews: 3 positive, 3 mixed, 1 negative.

Most critics come down in favour of the film, if not warmly. The praise clusters on the three leads, Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley above all, and on the uncertainty the pair keep alive over whether he is the man she says he is. Polanski’s handling of tension inside one confined house is the other recurring compliment; even the reviews that like the film least concede that the menace is expertly sustained.

The reservations are almost all about the writing. Several reviews find the characters turning into mouthpieces for the play’s arguments, and the moral questions put too plainly. The spread is wide: at one end the film is riveting despite the lecturing, at the other the Los Angeles Times finds it too schematic and self-important to feel rich. Three of the seven reviews could not be read in full, so the middle of the range is thinner than the counts suggest.

## Slant Magazine — Nick Schager

Rating 3.5/4. 31 May 2003. 

Schager finds the film’s moral questions sometimes didactic, but its volatility keeps it riveting. He especially praises the fierce interplay among the three leads and the powerful final crane shot.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/death-and-the-maiden/)

## Empire — Kim Newman

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. 

Newman finds the film a chilling, thought-provoking success, despite its less personal feel and predictable late revelations. He particularly praises Weaver and Kingsley’s performances and Polanski’s tension-building.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/death-maiden-review/)

## Variety — Todd McCarthy

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 12 December 1994. 

McCarthy finds the film tense and skillfully made, though its characters can feel like mouthpieces for ideology. He praises the three lead performances, particularly the suspenseful ambiguity created by Ben Kingsley and Sigourney Weaver.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/death-and-the-maiden-3-1200439773/)

## RogerEbert.com

Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 

The page is blocked by a browser check, so the critic’s verdict cannot be verified. No specific praise or complaint is available in the provided page text.

[Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/death-and-the-maiden-1995)

## The New York Times — Janet Maslin

Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 23 December 1994. 

The page content is unavailable, so the critic’s verdict cannot be verified. No specific praise or complaint can be reliably identified from the accessible text.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/23/movies/film-review-a-political-fable-in-thriller-s-clothing.html)

## Time Out — GA

Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 

The page identifies this as a film review, but the review text is unavailable. Its verdict and any specific praise or complaint cannot be determined from the accessible content.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/death-and-the-maiden)

## Los Angeles Times — Peter Rainer

Fi1m's normalised score 35/100 (inferred from the text). 23 December 1994. 

Rainer finds the film unsettling and expertly claustrophobic, but ultimately too schematic and self-important to feel rich. He praises Polanski’s sustained atmosphere of menace, while faulting the story’s narrow, grindingly creepy execution.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-12-23-ca-12109-story.html)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/death-and-the-maiden.md