Most critics come down on the film’s side, though few do so without qualification. The praise gathers around Hitchcock’s direction, which is called stylish and suspenseful across the board, and around Ingrid Bergman, whose performance is singled out more often than Gregory Peck’s. The Salvador Dalí dream sequence is mentioned in most reviews, and the production values of a top-budget Selznick picture are noted approvingly.
The reservations cluster on the story, and even the dream sequence is called predictable or disruptive by some. Several reviews find the Freudian plotting thin or silly, the mystery unconvincing and the ending dippy or slack, and more than one mentions friction between producer and director. Empire questions whether Bergman convinces as a psychiatrist and finds little chemistry between the leads. The spread is wide, from a B+ to Collider’s verdict that it is a misfire, if a fascinating one; that is the only outright dismissal.