The Pact

Deftly mounted, shot and scored, The Pact is a master class in ensemble acting, led by Neumann in a visceral, deeply layered and knife‘s-edge turn.

While The Pact may sound overly sinister to some, August extracts ample nuance out of the cast, ensuring we’re never left without sympathy for Karen. The film’s success hinges upon Neumann’s calculated performance, and she gives the role the requisite amount of ambiguity, keeping the audience guessing as to her true motivations.

A riveting homage to an extraordinary force as dynamic as she was unique.

Neumann’s baroness is grandiose and transfixing (as are Anne-Dorthe Eskildsen’s handsome costumes).

The film is masterful in exploring the kinetic energy between its leads, even in the most subdued scenes. The Pact is a slow burn, but one feels the heat the whole time.

The Pact starts off on an intriguing note and has some moments when it does work (especially the ones involving Grete), but while it's theoretically filled with dark psychological underpinnings, it seems oddly reticent to deal with them in any significant way.

This well-dressed midcentury period piece keeps teasing a darker, more perverse take on a familiar story of cross-generational creative mentorship. Yet despite a performance of unnerving severity by Birthe Neumann as the rancorous Blixen, the film remains too polite and light on incident to deliver on that promise.