The Critic is a 2023 British period thriller film directed by Anand Tucker and written by Patrick Marber, based on the 2015 novel Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn. The film stars Ian McKellen, Gemma Arterton, Mark Strong, Ben Barnes, Alfred Enoch, Romola Garai, and Lesley Manville.
The Critic premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 7 September 2023, and was released in the United Kingdom by Lionsgate on 13 September 2024.
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Plot
In 1934 London, Jimmy Erskine (Ian McKellen) is the theatre critic for The Daily Chronicle, a tabloid newspaper now owned and run by Viscount David Brooke (Mark Strong) after the death of his father. Erskine delights in writing vitriolic reviews of plays that he believes fall short of his high standards, despite requests from Brooke to tone it down.
After Erskine and his secretary and lover Tom Turner (Alfred Enoch) are arrested for homosexuality, Brooke dismisses him, along with other older employees. Erskine plots his revenge by persuading Nina Land (Gemma Arterton), a young actress, to enter a Faustian plot whereby she will seduce Brooke, who is already in love with her, in return for future glowing reviews. Erskine then blackmails Brooke into giving him his job back. When Brooke discovers that Land is also the lover of Stephen Wyley, his son-in-law (Ben Barnes), Brooke kills himself.
Driven by guilt for her part in this plot, a drunk Land visits Erskine, who, concerned that she will reveal the truth, drowns her in a bath. Erskine then persuades Turner to help dispose of the body, and when discovered, she is presumed to have committed suicide.
