69
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- At once retro and futuristic, the hyperstylized film recalls every wartime-era espionage/romance/noir flick, and in particular owes a debt to Lynch's Eraserhead, with its shadowy industrial backgrounds and throbbing soundtrack.
- 80EmpireWilliam ThomasEmpireWilliam ThomasLabyrintine and hypnotic, there's undoubtedly more style than substance to the film, but Von Trier manages to blind and bewilder his audience in a truly masterful manner.
- 80The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenAlthough the actual story of Zentropa is the stuff of an ordinary thriller, that plot is the only conventional aspect of a film that is an almost impudently flashy and knowing exercise in post-modern cinematic expressionism.
- 78Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovIn the end, Zentropa is above all unique in its radical take on the inherent confusion of postwar Europe, offering the viewer a glimpse like none he has had before.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe film is too confusing to be successful, but too striking and visually beautiful to be ignored.
- 75Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonIt's an obscure experience, partly alienating, partly enthralling; it weaves a spell that is frightening, irritating and invigorating all at once.
- 75The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasEuropa has been described as a Kafka-esque fever dream, and while that isn't inaccurate, it's also a cover for the film's confounding narrative, which wends through murky noir plotting, a polyglot of accents and performance styles, and surreal interludes. The best approach is not to puzzle too much over the details, and to marvel at von Trier's technical wizardry, which re-imagines the period through a patchwork of vivid impressions.
- 50Slant MagazineBill WeberSlant MagazineBill WeberVon Trier and his three cinematographers fashioned a handmade, retro pastiche with a small, dried-out heart.
- 50Los Angeles TimesPeter RainerLos Angeles TimesPeter RainerVon Trier is undeniably talented, but Zentropa, which won the 1991 Jury Prize at Cannes, comes across mostly as an exercise in pseudo-profundity. It’s got more metaphors than it knows what to do with.
- 50TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineZentropa is as muddled as it is stylized.