---
title: "Loving Vincent: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/loving-vincent/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/loving-vincent"
critics_score: 58
critics_reviews: 19
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."
---

# Loving Vincent (2017): what the critics said

Critics' score 58 from 19 reviews: 8 positive, 5 mixed, 6 negative.

The consensus on Loving Vincent is mixed, though praise for its hand-painted animation extends across much of the divide. The reviews repeatedly admire the labour involved in bringing van Gogh’s paintings into motion, with colour, light and shifting brushstrokes providing the main attraction. Even several detractors acknowledge the visual achievement. For the more enthusiastic critics, that imagery sustains the film despite its limitations as a drama.

The disagreement is chiefly over how much the pictures compensate for the storytelling, and the judgements range widely. Reservations cluster around a contrived, slow detective plot and a shortage of insight into the artist; even favourable reviews often find the investigation weak. Variety praises the sensitivity towards van Gogh’s character, while The Hollywood Reporter argues that the manufactured mystery reduces him to a generic crime-story figure. Some critics find an absorbing way into his work; others see an impressive technique attached to an ordinary procedural.

## Variety — Peter Debruge

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 18 June 2017. Festival review. 

The critic calls the film an awe-inspiring portrait and the world's first fully painted feature film, praising how it pulls audiences into van Gogh's hyper-sensual world through hand-painted frames. The sensitivity shown toward the artist's complex character is singled out for praise.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/loving-vincent-review-van-gogh-1202469734/)

## The New York Times — A.O. Scott

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 21 September 2017. 

The critic highlights the film's innovative approach of animating van Gogh's paintings into a hypnotic biopic framed by two speculative what-ifs about his life and death. The labor-intensive transformation of static art into a beguiling cartoon is singled out for praise.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/21/movies/loving-vincent-review-van-gogh.html)

## Los Angeles Times — Sheri Linden

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 28 September 2017. 

The critic notes the film's speculative detective-story framing of van Gogh's death but emphasizes that its inspired visual approach, using thousands of oil-painted frames, is what truly brings the artist to life. The hand-painted animation technique is singled out for praise.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-capsule-loving-vincent-review-20170928-story.html)

## Empire — Ian Freer

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 9 October 2017. 

The film is a triumph of technical prowess and stunning visuals over storytelling and dialogue, offering a glimpse of life through different eyes as one of the most beautiful films of 2017. The detective story element is the weakest, lacking energy despite ambitious stitching of van Gogh paintings into the narrative.

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

## Screen Daily

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 16 October 2017. Festival review. 

The distinctive oil-painted animation has strong visual impact and dynamism that captures Van Gogh's style, making it a potential art-house draw. The narrative investigation is secondary and contrived, with the style risking a corny knock-off feel for some viewers.

[Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/loving-vincent-london-review/5123302.article)

## The Guardian

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 15 October 2017. 

The production techniques and distinctive look are more striking than the story, with a somewhat laboured narrative exploring the nature of Van Gogh's death. The animation is a mercurial wonder and mercurial vision in the golds, ochres and cornflower blues that sing of the artist’s most famous work, with sequences of extraordinary beauty.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/15/loving-vincent-van-gogh-oil-painted-animation-biopic-review)

## The Times — Kevin Maher

Rating ★★★☆☆. 13 October 2017. 

The result is an indecently rich and visually sumptuous viewing experience that animates some of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings. The narrative is only mildly interesting, as the postmaster’s son investigates Van Gogh’s death, but it hardly matters – just watch and enjoy the visuals.

[Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/article/film-review-loving-vincent-f9k957msq)

## RogerEbert.com — Susan Wloszczyna

Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 22 September 2017. 

The critic praises the mesmerizing visual style achieved through 65,000 hand-painted frames but finds the murder-mystery plot stiff and derivative. The ambition and dedication behind the animation technique are singled out for praise.

[Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/loving-vincent-2017)

## Radio Times — David Parkinson

Rating 3/5. 

It is a peerless labour of love with inspired integration of Van Gogh canvases into the action. The biography is unreliable, the technique clashes with the artist's style, and the charm begins to pall.

[Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-we165n/loving-vincent/)

## Time Out — Anna Smith

Rating 3/5. 9 October 2017. 

It is a reverent ode to Van Gogh and a real one-off visual experiment with strong technical prowess. The plodding procedural narrative and bland lead performance limit its impact beyond the imagery.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/loving-vincent)

## Little White Lies — Matt Thrift

Rating 4/2/2. 13 October 2017. 

The critic finds it a curious artistic experiment that amounts to little more than that in this so-so Vincent Van Gogh biopic. The hand-painted animation is impressive but the sensationalist mystery structure and lack of insight into the artist are faults.

[Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/loving-vincent)

## IndieWire — David Ehrlich

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 31 August 2017. Festival review. 

The critic calls it an extraordinary labor of love but a mediocre film, praising the insane scale of the oil-painted tribute while noting it falls short as cinema.

[Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/loving-vincent-review-oil-painted-vincent-van-gogh-1201871551/)

## Slant Magazine — Chuck Bowen

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 21 September 2017. 

The critic views the film as driven by an off-putting fusion of reverence and egotism, imposing literal-mindedness on van Gogh's masterpieces and shackling them to a tedious narrative that feels more fascinating in theory than in execution.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/loving-vincent/)

## The Hollywood Reporter — Jordan Mintzer

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 15 June 2017. Festival review. 

The critic finds the hand-painted animation technique impressive and a unique way to bring van Gogh's work to life, but criticizes the contrived murder-mystery plot as hammy and manufactured, reducing the artist to a generic crime-novel protagonist.

[Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/loving-vincent-review-1013758/)

## The Playlist — Jessica Kiang

Rating B-. 1 November 2017. Festival review. 

The film is a fascinating exercise in labor-intensive oil-painting animation that is often a pleasure to look at, with dynamic visuals mimicking Van Gogh's style. Narratively it is simplistic, repackaging theories about Van Gogh's death into a plodding mystery where the tortuous creation method overshadows the result.

[Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/loving-vincent-review-20171101/)

## HeyUGuys — Stefan Pape

Rating 3/5. 4 October 2017. Festival review. 

The film is a rewarding visual experience and an indelible celebration of Van Gogh's life and work through its hand-painted animation. It offers an original, affectionate approach to the biopic by focusing on those he left behind rather than a conventional retelling.

[Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/loving-vincent-review/)

## The Wrap — Robert Abele

Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 21 September 2017. 

The critic finds the film's innovative animation technique visually arresting but criticizes it for not forming a compelling drama, praising the homage to Van Gogh's art but noting the story lacks transcendence.

[Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/loving-vincent-review-van-gogh-biopic-animated/)

## Eye for Film — Amber Wilkinson

Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 18 September 2017. 

The animation creates visually immersive, splendid artwork with every frame holding something to admire, especially regarding light and brushstrokes. The narrative, however, is simplistic and paint-by-numbers, playing like a sub-Agatha Christie mystery without deeper exploration of themes like mental fragility.

[Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/loving-vincent-2017-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson)

## Paste — Kenji Fujishima

Rating 5.8. 27 September 2017. 

The critic finds Loving Vincent a considerable visual achievement, with its oil-painted animation making Van Gogh’s canvases feel alive. However, the mystery-structured drama is ultimately a mundane detective procedural offering little fresh insight into the artist beyond his well-known struggles.

[Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/vincent-van-gogh/loving-vincent)

---
© 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/loving-vincent.md