The Pianist (2002) Critic Reviews

Metascore®:

87 =
Based upon 15 Critic Reviews
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The New York Times | Dana StevensAdd Critic to Favorites

Polanski, who was a Jewish child in Krakow when the Germans arrived in September 1939, presents Szpilman's story with bleak, acid humor and with a ruthless objectivity that encompasses both cynicism and compassion.Read the full review

Slate | David EdelsteinAdd Critic to Favorites

The best film of 2002.Read the full review

Washington Post | Desson ThomsonAdd Critic to Favorites

Polanski, himself a survivor of Nazi-occupied Poland, has created a near-masterpiece.Read the full review

ReelViews | James BerardinelliAdd Critic to Favorites

Crafted without a whiff of melodrama, this motion picture takes a steady, unflinching look at the plight of Jews in Warsaw.Read the full review

Wall Street Journal | Joe MorgensternAdd Critic to Favorites

Astonishing visually and problematic dramatically.Read the full review

Entertainment Weekly | Lisa SchwarzbaumAdd Critic to Favorites

The result is a movie, and Cannes Palme d'Or winner, of riveting power and sadness, a great match of film and filmmaker -- and star, too.Read the full review

Los Angeles Times | Manohla DargisAdd Critic to Favorites

Never before has a fiction film so clearly and to such devastating effect laid out the calculation of the Nazi machinery of death and its irrationality.Read the full review

San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalleAdd Critic to Favorites

One of the great Holocaust films.Read the full review

USA Today | Mike ClarkAdd Critic to Favorites

With this 2002 Cannes Film Festival best-picture winner, Polanski skips the quirky flourishes and simply brings history to life.Read the full review

Rolling Stone | Peter TraversAdd Critic to Favorites

Nothing can detract from the film as a portrait of hell so shattering it's impossible to shake.Read the full review

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