--- title: "The Double Life of Véronique: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-double-life-of-veronique/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-double-life-of-veronique" critics_score: 72 critics_reviews: 12 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." --- # The Double Life of Véronique (1991): what the critics said Critics' score 72 from 12 reviews: 9 positive, 0 mixed, 3 negative. Most critics admire it, and the praise gathers in the same places: Irène Jacob’s performance as both women, Zbigniew Preisner’s score, and the golden, drifting camerawork. The reviews agree that Kieślowski has no interest in explaining the connection between his two heroines, and most take that as the point. For them this is a film about chance and parallel lives that works through image and music rather than plot, and several describe the effect as a trance or a dream. The dissent is sharp rather than wide, and it dates. The three negative reviews all come from the 1991 release: the Los Angeles Times finds a stylish but hollow puzzle closer to a perfume advertisement than cinema, Variety says the French half loses momentum after a strong Polish opening, and The New York Times finds the symbolism opaque and of little urgency. Later reassessments are far warmer, though even admirers such as The Times concede it does not give up its secrets easily. ## Slant Magazine — Glenn Heath Jr. Rating 4/4. 9 February 2011. The review celebrates the film's hypnotic exploration of duality, fate, and sensory mysteries through the parallel lives of two women, highlighting how motifs of light, music, and circumstance create a complete yet elusive puzzle. It singles out the floating camera work, haunting score, and Irène Jacob's evocative presence for conveying the sensual glory of unseen connections. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/the-double-life-of-veronique/) ## The AV Club — Scott Tobias Rating A. 6 December 2006. The critic praises the film's poetic abstraction of coincidence and chance, crystallized through parallel lives that rhyme via reflective cinematography and sweeping score. It singles out Irène Jacob's ravishing performance as the identical women whose shared soul and mysterious connections evoke beauty in images, music, and love. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-double-life-of-veronique-1798202196) ## Empire — David Parkinson Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic praises Kieślowski's first international film as a delicate metaphysical masterpiece that balances mysticism and mystery through the parallel lives of two women. He singles out the sublime performance by Irène Jacob and the film's ravishing golden photography and haunting score for particular praise. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/double-life-veronique-review/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 13 December 1991. The film is a mysterious and poetic romance about two nearly identical young women, one Polish and one French, who never quite meet but seem connected by fate and shared traits. Kieslowski is not interested in explaining the connections but in evoking the mystery of consciousness and parallel lives. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-double-life-of-veronique-1991) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 17 March 2006. Kieślowski’s film is a brilliant, enigmatic meditation on choices, alternative lives and the demands of art. The critic singles out Irène Jacob’s magnetic, passionate performance as the two women for particular praise. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2006/mar/17/3) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 3 April 2006. The film held the critic in a discomforting trance on its 1991 release and remains compelling in retrospective; Kieslowski masterfully controls images of soul-like connections between the two women while grounding the story in precise, tactile details of everyday life. Irène Jacob's raw, open performance is central to its power. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/04/10/soul-mates) ## The Times — Andrew Holgate Rating 4/5. 7 May 2006. The critic calls it a haunting elliptical account of the strange sense of connection felt by two women leading separate lives in France and Poland. It cemented Kieslowski's reputation but does not give up its secrets without a fight. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/film-dvds-ng3n56hkwms) ## Time Out — GA Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 13 March 2006. The critic reassesses Kieślowski's most mysterious and elliptical work on the occasion of a re-release and NFT tribute season. Irène Jacob’s dual performance, Zbigniew Preisner’s score and the expressionist camerawork are singled out as key strengths of this baroque, poetic parable. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/la-double-vie-de-veronique) ## Los Angeles Times — Peter Rainer Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 13 December 1991. The film is a stylish but hollow metaphysical conundrum with high-gloss visuals, more reminiscent of perfume commercials than substantive cinema, relying on planted dualities and portentous anomie. Jacob poses expressively rather than delivering a full performance in the Parisian section. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-13-ca-276-story.html) ## The New York Times — Vincent Canby Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 24 November 1991. The film bewitches the eye with its distinctive European style and introduces Irene Jacob, examining a metaphysical bond between two identical young women who sense each other's existence without awareness. It is a haunting though opaque experience centered on symbolism of little practical urgency. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/24/movies/review-film-metaphysical-equation-in-the-double-life-of-veronique.html) ## Variety — Variety Staff Rating **. 1 January 1991. The film divides Kieslowski fans with its creative and emotional outbursts but ultimately remains a puzzling cipher with blurred edges about two identical women with opposite destinies. The Polish section is raptly engaging while the French part loses momentum after a strong start. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1990/film/reviews/la-double-vie-de-veronique-1200428858/) ## Collider — Zach Laws Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 23 March 2025. The critic hails the film as a moody '90s masterpiece that profoundly captures the sensation of parallel lives and the role of chance in fate. Kieślowski's emphasis on visuals, music, and mood over plot is singled out for creating a dreamlike exploration of interconnectedness. [Read the review](https://collider.com/the-double-life-of-veronique/) --- © 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/the-double-life-of-veronique.md