82
Metascore
26 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Slant MagazineDiego SemereneSlant MagazineDiego SemereneAlain Guiraudie's film portrays cruising as a danger-seeking and astoundingly repetitive affair, intimately linked to death itself.
- Spare, steely, sexually explicit in a way that transcends mere provocation, Stranger by the Lake is vital cinema.
- 100Village VoiceMelissa AndersonVillage VoiceMelissa AndersonStranger abounds with precision and detail, evinced not just in the spectacular visual composition but also in the observation of behavioral codes in carnally charged spaces.
- 90VarietyBoyd van HoeijVarietyBoyd van HoeijThis is essentially an absorbing and intelligent exploration of queer desire spiced up with thriller elements.
- 90The DissolveScott TobiasThe DissolveScott TobiasEven when the plot kicks in and the stakes get raised, there’s a casualness to Guiraudie’s approach that’s singular and admirably defiant of genre expectations. He’s setting a scene. Tension insinuates itself later.
- 83The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangGuiraudie creates an ambiance of eerie atmospherics that is at once crisp and observant, and oddly dreamlike, or nightmarish.
- 83Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThe movie is voyeuristic, sure, but in a way that evokes Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" more than William Friedkin's "Cruising."
- 80The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerThe Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerStranger by the Lake invites you into its alluring and peaceful world, only to gradually uncover the darkness beneath it.
- 80The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThe tired old trope "erotic thriller" does no justice to how confrontationally and explicitly sexual this movie is — nor how thrilling, nor how menacing and complex.
- 80Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichThough Stranger by the Lake leans a bit too heavily on its long-take, slow-cinema bona fides, there’s a clear purpose to Guiraudie’s rigorous perspective. He’s out to unearth the very potent (and often terrifying) emotions underlying every explicit act, sexual or otherwise.