--- title: "The Duke of Burgundy: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-duke-of-burgundy/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-duke-of-burgundy" critics_score: 78 critics_reviews: 24 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 Duke of Burgundy (2015): what the critics said Critics' score 78 from 24 reviews: 22 positive, 1 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics respond warmly to Peter Strickland’s erotic relationship drama, finding tenderness and dry humour in its rituals of dominance and submission. Praise centres on the lead performances, particularly Sidse Babett Knudsen’s controlled expression of emotional strain, and on the care given to cinematography, music and sound. The reviews repeatedly credit the film with looking beyond sexual role-play to the compromises and frustrations of sustaining a relationship. The spread runs from enthusiasm to isolated rejection, with broad agreement on the craft but less certainty about the emotional substance. The Skinny finds warmth and a distinctive atmosphere while noting stagey dialogue and languid pacing. The New Yorker offers the clearest dissent, admiring the retro setting but finding the erotic psychology flimsy and the encounters unsexy. Most critics instead find the stylisation supports a persuasive, sometimes funny account of intimacy. ## Little White Lies — Katherine McLaughlin Rating 4/5/5. 19 February 2015. Strickland’s sumptuous all-female S&M fable is his greatest film to date, an unconventional love story that explores the shifting nature of long-term relationships through a couple’s fetish for butterflies and role-play. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-duke-of-burgundy) ## The AV Club — Mike D'Angelo Rating A. 22 January 2015. The critic calls it one of the most incisive and empathetic films about what it means to love another person, disguised as salacious midnight-movie fare with no nudity. The dynamic between the two leads, where the ostensibly submissive character exerts control, and the theme of compromise in relationships are singled out. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-duke-of-burgundy-is-a-beautiful-love-story-disguise-1798182485) ## Empire — Kim Newman Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 24 January 2015. The film is a deadpan comedy of manners and an affecting study of a struggling relationship, as well as a stylish essay in the wilfully perverse. It delivers an immensely rewarding, amusing, wise, melancholy and involving experience, with standout performances from the leads. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/duke-burgundy-review/) ## IndieWire — Nikola Grozdanovic Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 23 January 2015. The critic describes the film as sumptuous, surreal, and audaciously superb, an exotic and self-indulgent work that hypnotizes with its style, soundtrack, cinematography, and emotional vigor. The master-class performance by Sidse Babett Knudsen as Cynthia is highlighted for its controlled, deeply emotional quality. [Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-peter-stricklands-the-duke-of-burgundy-is-the-stuff-dreams-are-made-of-267890/) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 22 February 2015. Peter Strickland’s beautifully shot, highly atmospheric pastiche of 1970s European sleaze is a delight. The film is an S&M love story that is smarter and jollier than most, with meticulously refined style and a joyous awareness of its own preposterousness. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/22/the-duke-of-burgundy-sidse-babett-knudsen-peter-strickland-chiara-danna-erotica) ## The Times — Kate Muir Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 19 February 2015. This is an elegant, witty, mysterious piece of bedroom philosophy and a thinking person’s Fifty Shades of Grey. Strickland’s latest lunacy is a wonderfully strange cinematic mouthful set in a gothic villa where only women exist and most are bluestocking lepidopterists with exotic sexual tastes. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/the-duke-of-burgundy-the-thinking-persons-fifty-shades-of-grey-8j85nncfcbp) ## Variety — Scott Foundas Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 18 October 2014. Festival review. Strickland delivers a striking, singular tribute to 1960s-70s Euro erotica that transcends pastiche with a sensuous, slyly funny portrayal of a sadomasochistic affair between two lesbian entomologists. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2014/film/festivals/film-review-the-duke-of-burgundy-1201331373/) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Leslie Felperin Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 8 September 2014. Festival review. The critic calls the film visually ravishing, emotionally wise, and kinky, praising it as a delight and perfect companion to Strickland’s previous work. The richly layered performances, especially from Sidse Babett Knudsen, reveal an intricate architecture of emotional co-dependence, with humor and nuanced sound design singled out. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/duke-burgundy-toronto-review-730976/) ## Evening Standard — David Sexton Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 10 July 2015. This is a charming, romantic and touching S&M yarn that serves as the perfect antidote to Fifty Shades of Grey, showing how difficult it can be to make fantasy work in a relationship. It is both funny and a loving homage to an antique genre of soft-core porn, with no men or nudity. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-duke-of-burgundy-film-review-10059336.html) ## Time Out — Joshua Rothkopf Rating 4/5. 13 February 2015. Strickland’s absorbing S&M passion play between two women starts as kinky Eurotrash pastiche but reveals the end of their affair through repeated seduction games in a lushly naughty 1970s style. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-duke-of-burgundy) ## Film Comment — Jonathan Romney Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 21 January 2015. The film is an extended game with expectations around domination-and-submission role-play and the moviegoer’s assumptions in general. It is a claustrophobic two-hander about love, obsession, performance, and lepidoptery that pays homage to Sixties/Seventies Euro-erotica. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/the-duke-of-burgundy-peter-strickland-review/) ## Los Angeles Times — Sheri Linden Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 22 January 2015. Strickland crafts a mesmerizing mood piece and a fascinating portrait of a relationship through ritual, role-play and compromise. The lead performances, especially Knudsen's as the reluctant sadist, are compelling. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-duke-of-burgundy-review-20150123-story.html) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 6 September 2014. Festival review. Strickland deconstructs 1970s continental soft porn to explore a sado-masochistic lesbian relationship challenged by the gap between fantasy and reality, creating an odd, original and beguiling work that is impeccably crafted. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/the-duke-of-burgundy/5077204.article) ## Sight and Sound — Kim Newman Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 20 February 2015. The film is a phantasmagoric pastiche of 1970s Euro sex-horror that studies the stresses and power shifts in a perfect relationship through repeated sadomasochistic role-play scenes between two women in an all-female world of moth studies. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/drama-week-duke-burgundy) ## The New York Times — A.O. Scott Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 22 January 2015. The film is a unique Sapphic S&M lepidoptery-themed psychological romance that pays slavish homage to old exploitation movies. It explores the sexual practices and domestic routines of two women in a lush, ritual-driven relationship. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/movies/the-duke-of-burgundy-is-an-erotic-hothouse-flower.html) ## The New Yorker — Richard Brody Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 23 January 2015. What appears to be abuse is an elaborate erotic ritual between a lesbian couple; the director creates a sumptuous retro setting but the erotic psychology is flimsy and the film is as sexy as a chess game. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/duke-burgundy-2) ## The Playlist — The Playlist Staff Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2014. Festival review. Strickland's film is hailed as a sumptuous, surreal, and emotionally intense work blending style, atmosphere, and deep relational dynamics between two women. The critic praises the performances, cinematography, score, and overall hypnotic immersion as a standout achievement. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/tiff-review-peter-stricklands-the-duke-of-burgundy-is-a-surreal-sublime-knock-out-20140910/) ## NME — Dan Brightmore Rating 4/5. 19 February 2015. The film is a mesmerising portrayal of human relationships that affords equal space to lustful and emotional elements of desire in a soft-focus rural setting devoid of men. It is a darkly comic erotic drama inspired by cult ’70s horror films. [Read the review](https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-various-artists-15942-318516) ## Consequence Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 12 March 2015. The critic highlights how the film thoughtfully depicts a dominant-submissive relationship with passion and honesty, contrasting it favorably with Fifty Shades of Grey, and praises its analogue, organic visuals and attention to intimate details. [Read the review](https://consequence.net/2015/03/film-review-the-duke-of-burgundy/) ## Den of Geek — Ryan Lambie Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 16 October 2014. Festival review. The film is a quietly hilarious and unusually restrained study of an unusual love affair that is beautifully shot and aurally mesmerising. Strickland observes the characters without judgment in this filmmaker’s film full of geometric butterfly images. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/lff-the-duke-of-burgundy-review/) ## Eye for Film — Andrew Robertson Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 22 February 2015. The film is described as delicate, constructed, and poised, with meticulous craft in sound, costume, and visuals evoking a stylized European world of lepidopterists and ritualized intimacy. The critic singles out its technical precision and emotional authenticity in depicting shifting control in a relationship. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-duke-of-burgundy-2014-film-review-by-andrew-robertson) ## HeyUGuys — Gary Green Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 20 February 2015. The critic praises the film's exploration of a complex lesbian relationship involving dominance and submission, highlighting how one partner loses herself in trying to fulfill the other's desires. The emotional depth and nuanced portrayal of love versus lust are singled out as moving and beautifully rendered. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/sex-destroys-loss-self-duke-burgundy/) ## Paste — Tim Grierson Rating 8.0. 24 January 2015. Festival review. The critic praises the film's hypnotic, erotic exploration of a couple's relationship through role-play and repetition, noting its subversion of expectations around S&M and its beautiful, puzzle-like structure. It singles out the clever opening and the way it externalizes psychological elements through the setting for praise. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/the-duke-of-burgundy-2014-tiff-review) ## The Skinny — John Nugent Rating ★★★. 16 February 2015. Strickland follows up Berberian Sound Studio with something warmer and sweeter though no less strange, reframing an S&M premise as a tender love story that grapples with the logistics of a submissive love affair. It has magisterial cinematography and an atmosphere all of its own despite stagey dialogue and languid pacing. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/the-duke-of-burgundy) --- © 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-duke-of-burgundy.md