Most critics find Kaufman’s adaptation comes off far better than a novel this hard to film has any right to. The praise clusters on the cast: Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin are singled out more than once, and several reviews admire how the film moves between erotic comedy and political tragedy without lurching. The actors’ body language and the editing of the final moments are also picked out as things the film does that the page could not.
The reservations are about the book. Several critics feel the film cannot carry the novel’s language or its irony, and that what remains is heavier than the source. Daniel Day-Lewis divides opinion: Variety finds his self-conscious appeal occasionally overdone, while Empire thinks him the best of the casting. Radio Times calls it overlong and eventually short of things to say. The spread is wide, with the Los Angeles Times the one outright dissenter, arguing the adaptation thins the ideas and leaves the characters shallow, though even that review admires Binoche and the photography.