75
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91The Film StageJohn FinkThe Film StageJohn FinkLed by a powerful and quietly resilient performance by Linda, Afterimage may not contain everything Wajda has said or wish to have said, however it is a moving tribute to a career marred by personal and national trauma, and one of the year’s best pictures.
- 90The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyThis is an angry, vivid, passionate film.
- 80Screen DailyDan FainaruScreen DailyDan FainaruThe film still stands as an imposing monument to the memory of a great artist.
- 75Slant MagazineClayton DillardSlant MagazineClayton DillardAndrzej Wajda's film is a lean, unwavering look at the effects of artistic idealism in the face of fascist doctrine.
- 75The Globe and Mail (Toronto)John SemleyThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)John SemleyFor a filmmaker who was frequently drawn back to the subject of suffering, and especially the anguish of the individual cast against the collective will of cruel, foolish authority, it’s a perfectly fitting farewell.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterStephen DaltonThe Hollywood ReporterStephen DaltonAfter 90 years and more than 50 films, Wajda has earned the right to make stagey period pieces like Afterimage, minor codas to a gloriously symphonic career.
- 70Village VoiceChris PackhamVillage VoiceChris PackhamThough Wajda admires this struggle, the artist’s final pursuit never seems redemptive in the depths of Strzemiński’s isolation and misery.
- 60CineVueBen NicholsonCineVueBen NicholsonFor all of the perfection of the period-detail browns and greys, Afterimage could have done with a touch more colour.
- 60VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyWhile this grim story is one worth telling, it’s a pity that in relating the bum’s-rush Strzeminski got in later life, Wadja couldn’t have communicated more of what sustains his legacy as a great artist and innovator.
- 58The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyAfterimage suffers from a clunky script and an overdetermined formal palette.