The Duke of Burgundy 2014

Wesley Morris, Grantland: The Duke of Burgundy is both a vertiginously styled relationship movie and an erotic fable about being in a relationship (the fear of routine, of boredom, of limits). Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: An act of cinephilic homage that transcends pastiche to become its own uniquely sensuouscinematic object ... Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: Burgundy is heavy with feeling. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: At its core, this is one of the most incisive, penetrating, and empathetic films ever made about what it truly means to love another person, audaciously disguised as salacious midnight-movie fare. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: Sexy stuff. In the deepest sense. Unhealthy erotic stimulation for the mind. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: [Peter Strickland's] new movie has more going on than cinematic mind games. Read more

Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter: Visually ravishing, emotionally wise, and kinky as a coiled rope, writer-director Peter Strickland's third feature The Duke of Burgundy is a delight. Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: Nothing if not a mood piece, but amid its atmospherics and winking asides, it's also a fascinating portrait of a relationship. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: Portentous images of insects both living and preserved are as heavy-handed as the erotic psychology is flimsy; the movie is as sexy as a chess game and as insightful as a catalogue. Read more

Tomas Hachard, NPR: Strickland hides much beneath the surface in The Duke of Burgundy, but the movie is also a delight to look upon ... Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: It's a love story, and also a perversely sincere (and sincerely perverse) labor of love. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: A tiny, tasteful throwback to more innocent times, when actresses with exotic names would strip off their costumes while embracing far-fetched scenarios - and one another. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: While Strickland's films already aren't like anyone else's, his real secret is that even in this strange constructed world, his characters feel like real people struggling with issues that aren't exotic at all. Read more

Matthew Lickona, San Diego Reader: It's an impressive achievement: the rendering of a private and extremely particular world in terms that any lover will understand. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: The real problem with the film is a gradual mood switch that, for me, didn't work at all. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: This is voyeurism of a brilliant, deeply refined order. If the MPAA had a shot at rating Strickland's fantasy, they would try to condemn it without being able to explain why. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Globe and Mail: There's voyeurism, fetishism, bondage, lingerie and high-flown naughtiness galore, but that's hardly the movie's most conspicuous achievement. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The Duke of Burgundy is no mere style exercise or slavish homage. Strickland finds both humour and pathos in the situation of Cynthia and Evelyn, who are every bit as trapped as the insects they collect and catalogue. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: You get the sense that if Strickland had set his movie on some suburban couch in Brooklyn, it would work just as well. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: A complex and ultimately moving essay on the privileges of victimhood and the nuances of what it means to suffer for love. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: "The Duke of Burgundy" is exquisite to look at, but it succeeds best as a human drama, and a searching investigation of how to ask for what you want - and maybe even getting it in the end. Read more