The reviews are unanimous in their approval, and the praise settles on the same place: what the film looks like. Most critics single out the black-and-white compositions, the handling of light and shadow, and the way the frames are built, and nearly all of them come back to the closing sequence of Rome, which several regard as the film’s high point. Its mood of anxiety and disconnection is generally felt to have kept its force, and a few critics find a dry, mocking comedy in its picture of a life run on money.
Where they part is over pace. Empire and Variety both find long stretches slow to the point of tedium, though each still ends up admiring Antonioni’s control and the ending in particular. Variety also wonders whether the director can push the approach any further. The spread is narrow otherwise, running from warm respect to outright reverence, with Little White Lies the most fervent.