Performance

Play trailer

Performance

R,

1970,

1h 45m,

Crime/

Drama

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Stream Now

Watchlist

81%

36 Reviews

Tomatometer

78%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

81%

Tomatometer

36 Reviews

78%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

After killing a rival in self-defense, hoodlum Chas (James Fox) must flee both from the law and from his boss, Harry Flowers. He eventually moves into a house owned by Turner (Mick Jagger), a former rock star who lives with female companions Pherber (Anita Pallenberg) and Lucy (Michele Breton). Chas and Turner initially clash, but Turner becomes fascinated with Chas' life as a criminal. Through drugs and a series of psychological battles with Turner, Chas emerges a different man.

Watch on Fandango

Stream Now

Stream

Rent Performance on Fandango, or buy it on Fandango.

Critics Consensus

Performance is an exuberant and grimy ode to the sexual revolution, evoking cultural upheaval and identity crisis with rock 'n' roll verve and a beguiling turn by Mick Jagger.

Read Critics Reviews

Budd Wilkins

Slant Magazine

Mar 4, 2025

The film remains a beguiling time capsule—sensual, cerebral, both ode to and threnody for a very specific time and place.

Go to Full Review

Adam Nayman

The Ringer

Nov 26, 2018

Critics hated it, and Warner Bros. barely saw fit to release it, but Performance has endured as a cult favorite. It's also arguably the greatest-ever big-screen showcase for Jagger...

Go to Full Review

Kate Muir

The Times (UK)

Jul 23, 2015

4/5

With a pleasurably peculiar cast of James Fox, Mick Jagger and Anita Pallenberg, Performance is one of the weirdest slices of Seventies London around, combining gangster violence and ritual humiliation with decaying rock-star glamour.

Go to Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Mar 2, 2025

2.5/4

It’s easy to see why Performance has both attracted and offended.

Go to Full Review

Eve Tushnet

Patheos

Sep 18, 2023

Unfortunately the film is mostly about the gangster, who lacks Jagger’s charisma and generally is no fun. And then the self-consciously disorienting style makes it even harder to care about what is happening.

Go to Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Nov 25, 2018

... this collision of London gangster machismo and drug culture, where "Nothing is true; everything is permitted," is unmistakably a product of the sixties.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Abraham S

Jan 9, 2019

First-time directors have to start somewhere.

Luke R

Oct 8, 2018

the most pretentious piece of crap ive ever seen

Harry S

Feb 17, 2018

1001 movies to see before you die. A clash of the cultures mobsters and hippies all framed by trippy influences.

Abraham W

Oct 31, 2017

Infuriating, incoherent, very badly acted in places - and yet, for the first half at least, there's a peculiar fascination in watching a perversely-cast James Fox testing his hardman credentials as a ruthless gangster. The second half becomes increasingly druggy and self-indulgent as Mick Jagger's Notting Hill harem seduce Fox with magic mushrooms and hedonism. Best seen as a snapshot of late-sixties cinematic decadence.

See more

Leia S

Apr 14, 2016

The perfect example of what a film should never be: too pretentious for its own good.

Read all reviews

Donald Cammell

Director

James Fox

Chas

Mick Jagger

Turner

Anita Pallenberg

Pherber

Michele Breton

Lucy

Ann Sidney

Dana

Don't Look Now

93%

76%

Don't Look Now

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Don't Look Now

Lenny

88%

88%

Lenny

Watchlist

Midnight Express

90%

89%

Midnight Express

Watchlist

The Draughtsman's Contract

97%

85%

The Draughtsman's Contract

Watchlist

TRAILER

for The Draughtsman's Contract

Easy Rider

84%

82%

Easy Rider

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Easy Rider

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Five Favourite Films with Bill Nighy

Kim Newman on… The Terrornauts

View more photos

Synopsis

After killing a rival in self-defense, hoodlum Chas (James Fox) must flee both from the law and from his boss, Harry Flowers. He eventually moves into a house owned by Turner (Mick Jagger), a former rock star who lives with female companions Pherber (Anita Pallenberg) and Lucy (Michele Breton). Chas and Turner initially clash, but Turner becomes fascinated with Chas' life as a criminal. Through drugs and a series of psychological battles with Turner, Chas emerges a different man.

Director: Donald Cammell
Producer: Nicolas Roeg, Sanford Lieberson
Screenwriter: Donald Cammell
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Production Co: Goodtimes Enterprises
Rating: R (Nudity|Drug Material|Sexual Content|Some Violence)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 3, 1970, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 20, 2016
Runtime: 1h 45m
Sound Mix: Mono

Join The Newsletter

Join The Newsletter

Cookie Settings