Berlin Syndrome

"Between more trickily opaque stretches of character development, Shortland nails a handful of straight-up, nerve-shredding tension sequences, teasing a version of the film that might have tilted into full-bore horror."

"Shortland takes a horror movie premise and imbues it with the knotty emotional complexity of a dysfunctional relationship psychodrama."

"Palmer and Shortland keep audiences on the edge of their seat for a bit too long (there's a tighter version within this nearly two-hour one) but this is still a confident, interesting thriller."

"It’s as if, in her desire not to be too florid or declamatory, Shortland has held a little too much back. This leaves the audience puzzling over some tantalising loose threads."

"This is a case of expert filmmaking craft applied to a familiar story that becomes unrelentingly grim and drawn-out after its masterful setup."

"A remarkably tense and extremely confronting Australian film."