A powerfully made film. The performances by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg are heroic and fearless. Von Trier's visual command is striking. And if you can think beyond what he shows to what he implies, its depths are frightening. Von Trier has reached me and shaken me.

— Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Brilliantly made, it’s beautiful to look at, it’s partly surreal and partly naturalistic… brilliant.

— Melissa Anderson, The Village Voice

I would be lying if I didn’t admit that this impossible movie kept me hooked from start to finish.

— Stephen Holden, The New York Times

I don’t think I breathed for the last half - out of shock, out of stress, out of disbelief. This is to say that von Trier had us all. Von Trier is a consummate filmmaker.

— Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

A must-see. A true, lacerating original.

— Michael Phillips, Time Out Chicago

(Von Trier)'s a real moviemaker, a composer of rich imagery as evocative as it is provocative, a master matador at waving a red cape in front of the most jaded viewers and getting them to charge.

— Richard & Mary Corliss, Time

Charlotte Gainsbourg gives a phenomenal, fearless performance. I’ve never witnessed a performance like it.

— Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe