The Woman in the Fifth

Name: The Woman in the Fifth
Director: Paweł Pawlikowski
Released: 2011

Synopsis

An American writer moves to Paris to be closer to his daughter and finds himself falling immediately on hard times.

75
Slant Magazine
Pawlikowski has crafted a film that throbs with substantial personal weight and bristles with a violent, haunting interior life.
70
Time
Accepting Pawlikowski's mood of poetic seriousness may be a chore for some. Others will find this creepy little sonata a dream or nightmare worth succumbing to, and believing in.
67
Entertainment Weekly
Heavy on mood and murk.
60
Empire
An ambitious thriller from Pawlikowski assisted by excellent performances from Hawke, Kulig and Scott Thomas.
60
The Guardian
This film has to be indulged a little, and you'll have to negotiate the stumbling block that is Hawke's stodgy, dodgy French accent.
60
Total Film
Contrived attempts to 'explain' the film's many mysteries ultimately disappoint.
60
Village Voice
You're not sure what this is till it's over, but certainly Hawke's performance is his nerviest and most sincere in a decade.
50
The A.V. Club
In spite of his considerable intelligence and cinematic gifts, Pawlikowski isn't Roman Polanski, so the delusions and psychosis of his put-upon lead character doesn't have the right intensity. Fifth feels like a literary bauble, chipped by imperfections.