"The Woman in the Fifth" leaves so many holes unfilled that instead of ending up intriguing, it's just plain frustrating.
- Tom Long, Detroit News, July 06, 2012
Those who prefer tidy, "Murder, She Wrote" closure are advised to shop elsewhere.
- Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 28, 2012
A thankless lead vehicle for Ethan Hawke who's left largely stranded by writer-director Pawel Pawlikowski's opaque adaptation of Douglas Kennedy's novel.
- Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2012
The movie casts such a seductive air of mystery that the resolution feels anticlimactic, yet there's plenty to enjoy along the way, particularly Hawke's nuanced lead performance as a quiet man with secrets of his own.
- Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader, June 21, 2012
When do we first sense reality slip away? Do we? Can the film be accepted on its own terms? Can the point of view be trusted?
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, June 21, 2012
It is guaranteed to haunt you for awhile.
- Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger, June 15, 2012
The Woman in the Fifth is an interesting chameleon until it runs out of disguises, and all that was transitory just looks transparent.
- Rick Groen, Globe and Mail, June 15, 2012
Pawel Pawlikowski's great-looking but pretentious adaptation of a Douglas Kennedy novel.
- Lou Lumenick, New York Post, June 15, 2012
It's a curio, ripe with dreamy atmospherics and intriguing mysteries, but little else.
- Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, June 15, 2012
[It's] watchable and enjoyable, but it's fairly impenetrable, and it gets more peculiar as it goes along.
- Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle, June 14, 2012
Although Mr. Pawlikowski often shows Mr. Hawke in medium and long shots, the actor draws you close.
- Manohla Dargis, New York Times, June 14, 2012
We are never sure if what we are seeing is actually happening, including the nature scenes that Pawlikowski interjects as contrast to the urban jungle - and also as a symbol of man's animal nature.
- Peter Howell, Toronto Star, June 14, 2012
This pensive, seductive drama is full of devious strategies, which begin with its protagonist's name: T. Ricks. Tricks.
- Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine, June 14, 2012
The Woman in the Fifth fairly oozes enigma; if only it could drum up something to be enigmatic about.
- Ella Taylor, NPR, June 14, 2012
Pawlikowski can't decide what to do with his protagonist, whose writer's block is the least of his emotional burdens.
- Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News, June 14, 2012
[Pawlikowski] creates a nice sense of paranoia and multicultural bewilderment that's the welcome tonal opposite of Woody Allen's romanticized Midnight in Paris fripperies.
- Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly, June 13, 2012
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.
- Michael Atkinson, Village Voice, June 12, 2012
I wouldn't have minded a little more time with these characters, before they faded away into the gray Paris sidewalks.
- Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times, June 14, 2012
You realize you've been watching an object that's all surface, no soul.
- Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York, June 12, 2012
Fifth feels like a literary bauble, chipped by imperfections.
- Scott Tobias, AV Club, June 14, 2012
