--- title: "Performance.: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/performance/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/performance" critics_score: 79 critics_reviews: 10 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." --- # Performance. (1970): what the critics said Critics' score 79 from 10 reviews: 9 positive, 1 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics respond warmly to Performance, praising its collision of gangster violence, rock-star glamour and experiments with identity. The praise clusters around Nic Roeg’s camerawork, the disruptive editing and the way the film connects crime, class, sex and fame in its portrait of London. Mick Jagger’s performance draws particular admiration, while several reviews find the fractured storytelling and psychedelic sequences rewarding rather than merely difficult. The spread runs from emphatic enthusiasm to qualified approval, with one mixed assessment and no outright rejection. RogerEbert.com supplies the clearest dissent, finding the connection between gangsters and pop stars disconnected and only partly successful, while still admiring Jagger’s psychological complexity. The Playlist also finds the film disjointed and sometimes unintentionally funny. The reservations centre on coherence and accessibility: most critics value the experimentation, but the reviews leave little suggestion of an easy watch. ## Evening Standard — Colin MacCabe Fi1m's normalised score 95/100 (inferred from the text). 10 April 2012. The critic calls Performance the greatest British film ever made for its daring mix of music, art, class, sex, crime and fame. They single out its definitive portrait of late-1960s London and its groundbreaking gangster realism in the first half. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/is-this-the-best-british-film-ever-7225139.html) ## The Guardian — Michael Holden Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 May 2004. The critic describes Performance as a masterpiece of cinema unlike any other, a fractured experimental work whose every aspect informs its energy. They single out its mind-expanding quality, like the drugs that pervade it, and praise the technical excellence brought by co-director Nic Roeg. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/may/01/hayfilmfestival2005.guardianhayfestival) ## Slant Magazine — Budd Wilkins Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 4 March 2025. The critic views the film as a perfect encapsulation of Swinging London's counterculture that also signals its demise, praising its status as one of the greatest British gangster films and its mind-bending exploration of identity, performance, and existential themes through jarring edits and psychedelic sequences. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/performance-4k-uhd-blu-ray-review-donald-cammell-nicolas-roeg/) ## Empire — Kim Newman Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2013. The critic describes the film as a rewarding exchange-of-personality piece that improves on repeated viewings. They single out its enduring cinematic sensibilities and unmatchably astonishing moments amid the era's sexual decadence and psychedelia. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/performance-review/) ## The New York Times — Peter Schjeldahl Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 16 August 1970. Performance is a violent movie with literal and social-psychological violence in its two main characters, featuring inspired acting especially by Jagger and Fox, and Roeg's ravishing camera work that creates a hypnotic texture. One emerges feeling scorched but convinced of having spent time in the presence of something extraordinary. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/16/archives/one-emerges-a-little-scorched-but-one-emerges-feeling-a-little.html) ## The Times — Kate Muir Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 24 July 2015. The critic calls Performance one of the weirdest slices of Seventies London around, combining gangster violence and ritual humiliation with decaying rock-star glamour. They single out Mick Jagger as electrifying in the role of the reclusive rock star Turner. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/classic-film-of-the-week-performance-1970-cf23c5sc0pq) ## Time Out — TM Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 25 February 2015. The film is a virtuoso juggling act that manipulates visual and verbal imagery to blur reality and fantasy. The first half is a straight thriller about a gangster on the run who then becomes entangled with a fading rock star in a drug-fueled exploration of power, identity and performance. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/performance) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 1970. The film is a bizarre, disconnected attempt to link pop stars and gangsters that isn't altogether successful but has frantic energy. The surprise is Mick Jagger's performance, which comments on his life and style in a complex psychological way. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/performance-1970) ## Eye for Film — Jennie Kermode Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 24 June 2009. The critic views the film as a legendary, boundary-challenging work born from undiluted vision that blends high art, violence and sexuality. She singles out its innovative cut-up editing, sensual cinematography and groundbreaking depictions of drugs and sex for praise while noting its enduring rarity and difficulty for mainstream audiences. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/performance-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) ## The Playlist — The Playlist Staff Rating B. 23 June 2011. The review describes Performance as an experimental, disjointed and hallucinatory psychedelic psychodrama that remains jarring and sometimes unintentionally funny by today’s standards. It highlights the film’s themes of identity, its shocking content for a major studio release and the legendary on-set stories. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/essentials-films-nicolas-roeg-20110623/) --- © 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/performance.md