---
title: "Only Lovers Left Alive: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/only-lovers-left-alive/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/only-lovers-left-alive"
critics_score: 73
critics_reviews: 21
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."
---

# Only Lovers Left Alive (2013): what the critics said

Critics' score 73 from 21 reviews: 16 positive, 3 mixed, 2 negative.

Most critics respond warmly to Jarmusch’s vampire romance, with praise clustering around Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston’s chemistry, comic timing and tenderness. The nocturnal photography, soundtrack and production design also draw approval, giving the lovers’ cultivated tastes a setting the favourable reviews find absorbing. For many, the slow pace allows the dry humour and affection to emerge, while the couple’s attachment to art and music gives their long relationship emotional weight.

The spread is wide, however, and the chief disagreement concerns how much that atmosphere sustains. Time Out admires the nocturnal world but finds the storytelling repetitive, while Digital Spy considers the performances stronger than material that offers too little substance or engagement. The New Yorker takes a sharper line against the film’s nostalgia and meticulous curation. Even some favourable reviews acknowledge stretches of drift or a sensibility most likely to please those already receptive to Jarmusch.

## Little White Lies — David Jenkins

Rating 4/5/5. 20 February 2014. 

The critic finds Jarmusch's vampire romance a sublime, melancholy celebration of art, culture and enduring love that ranks among the director's finest. Swinton and Hiddleston's comic timing and the film's philosophical humour are singled out for particular praise.

[Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/only-lovers-left-alive/)

## The AV Club — A.A. Dowd

Rating A-. 10 April 2014. 

A stylishly droll, funny and deeply romantic hangout movie that treats art as a reason to live and a rejuvenating force in a relationship.

[Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/jim-jarmusch-s-only-lovers-left-alive-is-a-vampire-hang-1798180135)

## The Hollywood Reporter — Todd McCarthy

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 25 May 2013. Festival review. 

Jarmusch’s vampire romance is an addictive mood and tone piece, a nocturnal reverie celebrating a centuries-long marriage; the director’s best work in years.

[Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/lovers-left-alive-cannes-review-558567/)

## Screen Daily

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 25 May 2013. Festival review. 

Jarmusch delivers a witty, tender and consummately chic essay on love, music and time that reinvigorates vampire clichés. Swinton and Hiddleston's funny yet tender performances are highlighted as making eternal love feel sophisticated.

[Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/only-lovers-left-alive/5056776.article)

## Slant Magazine — Calum Marsh

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 13 October 2013. 

Spending time with Jarmusch’s vaunted vampiric literati is engrossing; the film offers a decadence of sound and image while lamenting the erosion of Western culture.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/only-lovers-left-alive/)

## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw

Rating 4/5. 20 February 2014. 

The critic has warmed to the film since Cannes and praises its retro-chic connoisseurship and analogue-era rock as a brilliant haute-hippy homage. The sulphurous chemistry between Hiddleston and Swinton is singled out.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/20/only-lovers-left-alive-review)

## Vulture

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 11 April 2014. 

A neat little comedy about deadpan undead hipsters; charming and hard to resist once on its wavelength, despite some longueurs.

[Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/article/movie-review-jim-jarmusch-only-lovers-left-alive.html)

## Empire — Ian Nathan

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 21 January 2014. 

The critic finds Jarmusch's vampire tale haunting and idiosyncratic, praising its stylish take on the genre and the performances, though it preaches to the converted.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/lovers-left-alive-review/)

## Evening Standard

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 21 February 2014. 

While not fully convinced by Jarmusch's themes and dialogue, the critic praises the soundtrack, stars' charisma, and the film's gothic elements, noting it strikes the right notes in key scenes.

[Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/only-lovers-left-alive-film-review-9142224.html)

## Film Comment — Jonathan Romney

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 9 April 2014. 

Jarmusch delivers a cool, world-weary vampire romance between immortal lovers Adam and Eve, steeped in cultural references and ennui. The film is praised for its lush atmospheric cinematography, eclectic soundtrack, and blend of elitist chic with anti-elitist curiosity about art and knowledge.

[Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/review-only-lovers-left-alive-jarmusch-swinton/)

## The New York Times — A.O. Scott

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 10 April 2014. 

The film is a slow-burn celebration of art, style and aimless conversation centered on a cool, centuries-old vampire couple. The critic highlights their exquisite taste, nocturnal habits and the inventive conceit involving historical figures like Christopher Marlowe.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/11/movies/only-lovers-left-alive-jarmuschs-vampire-malaise.html)

## Time Out — Dave Calhoun

Rating 3/5. 18 February 2014. 

The film is praised for its beautiful, groovy nocturnal atmosphere and the magnetic world of ultra-cool, cultured vampires created by Jarmusch. The story is criticised for dragging and becoming repetitive.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/only-lovers-left-alive)

## Variety — Leslie Felperin

Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 24 May 2013. Festival review. 

Jarmusch tweaks the vampire genre in this sweet but slight love story about world-weary hipster bloodsuckers with empathic chemistry between the leads. It works best as light comedy of social mores but the tragic dimension in the final act falls flat.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/2013/film/global/only-lovers-left-alive-review-1200487848/)

## The New Yorker — Richard Brody

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 10 April 2014. 

Jarmusch’s film is the second-most-intensely curated movie of the season after Wes Anderson’s latest, creating a grand artistic mythology around its vampire protagonists. It suffers from precision and a sensibility petrified in nostalgia, lacking documentary spontaneity.

[Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/jim-jarmuschs-petrified-hipness)

## Collider — Phil Brown

Rating A. 6 September 2013. 

The critic calls it a listless, haunting, and darkly humorous experience that plays to Jarmusch's strengths and may be his finest film in years. It features exquisite casting, especially Hiddleston and Swinton, and a perfect match of filmmaker and subject matter.

[Read the review](https://collider.com/only-lovers-left-alive-review/)

## Eye for Film — Anne-Katrin Titze

Rating 4.5/5. 16 October 2013. 

The critic praises Jarmusch for restoring elegant longing and moral depth to the vampire genre. The film is singled out for the couple's shared appreciation of culture, history, and each other amid a decaying world.

[Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/only-lovers-left-alive-2013-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze)

## The Playlist — The Playlist Staff

Rating B+. 10 April 2014. Festival review. 

The review calls the film playful, referential, and enjoyable, with rich production design and strong lead performances. It highlights the romantic and funny central love story between the vampire couple.

[Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/review-jim-jarmuschs-cultured-cool-only-lovers-left-alive-starring-tom-hiddleston-tilda-swinton-20140410/)

## The Wrap

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 9 April 2014. 

The critic finds the film a smart and sexy take on vampire lore, witty and moving despite preconceptions about Jarmusch films and vampire tales. They single out the performances of Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston, along with Jarmusch’s direction and screenplay, for praise.

[Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/lovers-left-alive-review-tilda-swinton-jim-jarmusch-revive-moribund-vampire-genre/)

## Paste — Tim Grierson

Rating 6.6. 30 May 2013. Festival review. 

Jarmusch delivers a uniquely funny and poignant take on the vampire film, far from Twilight, focusing on the mixed bag of immortality, ennui, and the enduring power of love between two reflective old souls. The film reflects on getting older and feeling irrelevant through barbed humor and drifting nocturnal scenes.

[Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/only-lovers-left-alive)

## The Skinny — Philip Concannon

Rating ★★★. 17 February 2014. 

Jarmusch's detached and drily amusing vampire romance captures the ennui of immortal lovers weary of human cultural decay, with fun in its world and fetish for physical media. It occasionally feels a little too cool for its own good but benefits from strong casting and name-dropping.

[Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/only-lovers-left-alive)

## Digital Spy — Ben Rawson-Jones

Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 20 October 2013. Festival review. 

Jarmusch's minimalist vampire tale focuses on the domestic lives of centuries-old lovers Adam and Eve but lacks sufficient substance or engagement to match its stylish presentation. Solid performances, especially from Swinton and Hiddleston, are noted as superior to the material.

[Read the review](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/bfi-london-film-festival/a524787/only-lovers-left-alive-review-bfi-london-film-festival-2013/)

---
© 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/only-lovers-left-alive.md