80
The Imposter makes slick work of its wily subject, using atmospheric reenactments and stark, soul-baring interviews to explore a mind-boggling case of false identity.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis
One of the most entertaining documentaries to appear since "Exit Through the Gift Shop," a film similarly obsessed with role playing and deception.
80
Blessed with an improbable-but-true story that functions on many ironic levels, this clever documentary ultimately conveys more about the complex American character - shifting between intimacy and criminality - than a whole shelf of fiction films.
70
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
Thick with reenactments and cute cutaways, the movie evolves into a cultural inquisition, following this stranger through the strange land of bad-news America, where the truth is still waiting to be exhumed.
63
Slant Magazine by Nick Schager
The film shrewdly opts not to proffer its own hypothesis about the true reasons behind the Gibson family buying Frédéric Bourdin's story.
83
The Imposter strings the audience along, to get them to understand first-hand how easy it is to buy into a well-told story, even when there's no evidence to support it.
91
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
The documentary equivalent of a page-turner.
75
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
A movie that offers hard speculation and harder truths. You won't be able to get it out of your head.
The Imposter is a documentary but it plays more like a psychological thriller. As the film goes on and the lies and deception unravel, it's incredible how every unbelievable twist manages to one-up the previous one. Good documentaries like these remind us that truth really is stranger than fiction.