critics consensus

Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist takes a thoroughly entertaining -- albeit necessarily incomplete -- look at the life and career of a British fashion pioneer. Read critic reviews

Show all services

Rate And Review

Super Reviewer

Rate this movie

Oof, that was Rotten.

Meh, it passed the time.

It’s good – I’d recommend it.

Awesome!

So Fresh: Absolute Must See!

What did you think of the movie? (optional)
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
Super Reviewer
Step 2 of 2

How did you buy your ticket?

Let's get your review verified.
Fandango

AMCTheatres.com or AMC AppNew

Enter your Ticket Confirmation# located in your email.More Info

Cinemark Coming Soon

We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.

Regal Coming Soon

We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.

Theater box office or somewhere else
By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie.
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
Super Reviewer

Rate this movie

Oof, that was Rotten.

Meh, it passed the time.

It’s good – I’d recommend it.

Awesome!

So Fresh: Absolute Must See!

What did you think of the movie? (optional)
How did you buy your ticket?
- Fandango
- AMCTheatres.com or AMC AppNew
  
  Enter your Ticket Confirmation# located in your email.More Info
- Cinemark Coming Soon
  
  We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
- Regal Coming Soon
  
  We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
- Theater box office or somewhere else
By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie.
You haven’t finished your review yet, want to submit as-is?

You can always edit your review after.
Are you sure?

Verified reviews are considered more trustworthy by fellow moviegoers.
Want to submit changes to your review before closing?

Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist Videos

View All Videos (1)

Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist Photos

View All Photos (17)

Movie Info

Since igniting the punk movement with ex-partner and Sex Pistols' manager Malcolm McLaren, Dame Vivienne Westwood has been redefining British fashion for over 40 years and is responsible for creating many of the most distinctive looks of recent time. Blending archival footage and insightful interviews a portrait emerges of Vivienne's fascinating network of collaborators, taking viewers on her journey -- from a childhood in postwar Derbyshire to the runways of Paris and Milan.

Genre:

documentary
Original Language:

English (United Kingdom)
Director:

Lorna Tucker
Producer:

John Battsek, Shirine Best, Eleanor Emptage, Nicole Stott
Release Date (Theaters):

Jun 8, 2018 limited
Release Date (Streaming):

Sep 6, 2018
Runtime:

1h 20m

Cast & Crew

Vivienne Westwood
Self

Lorna Tucker
Director

John Battsek
Producer

Shirine Best
Producer

Eleanor Emptage
Producer

Nicole Stott
Producer

Show all Cast & Crew

News & Interviews for Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist

Ocean’s 8: Satisfying but Slight

View All

Critic Reviews for Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist

All Critics (59) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (46) | Rotten (13)

Westwood's more recent collections are amply displayed, and her style hasn't changed much in 40 years; aside from a few smart suits, most of her outfits are loud, vainglorious political statements.

March 4, 2020 | Full Review…

J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Fashion, for all its seeming frivolity, is a grimly serious business. [Vivienne] Westwood showed an endearing grace, sowing the seeds of future national treasure status.

October 25, 2019 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Suzi Feay
Financial Times
Lorna Tucker's documentary portrait focuses equally on what happened afterwards, painting its subject as a committed activist, an artist with no time for convention or false modesty, and a personality worth spending time with.

October 19, 2018 | Full Review…

Jake Wilson
The Age (Australia)
The film is a fair and, I think, a well-meaning attempt to cover her life in all its dizzying variety - hence the scattiness.

October 16, 2018 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…

Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald
Westwood's loyalties feel torn and the fashion house is plunged into drama. It makes this the perfect film to double bill 'Phantom Thread' with.

July 24, 2018 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Anna Smith
Time Out
The best anecdote is saved for the closing credits, for some reason.

July 24, 2018 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
The doco arguably dwells a bit too long on Westwood's role in London punk rock culture wars of the 1970s, but never bores for a moment.

August 14, 2020 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Leigh Paatsch
Herald Sun (Australia)
Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist reveals a plethora of contradictions in its subject, and that makes the whole piece all the more intriguing and mysterious.

June 17, 2020 | Full Review…

Steven Prokopy
Third Coast Review
If you're a free spirit, you'll enjoy this spirited backward glance at a great British designer, provocateur, businesswoman, whose smash-the-box approach continues to inspire in these dull gray days of our despair.

June 2, 2020 | Full Review…

Erin Blackwell
Bay Area Reporter
Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist is a documentary that is fairly well-round about a fantastic lady of fashion who is also a passionate activist and punk rock as can be.

April 11, 2020 | Rating: 4.5/5 | Full Review…

Emilie Black
Cinema Crazed
Westwood may be intriguing for fashion types, punk-rockers and fans of septuagenarian women with potty mouths and trophy husbands, but it may be a harder sell for cinephiles who like their docs with a little more revelation.

January 15, 2020 | Full Review…

Felicia Feaster
Burnaway.org
Amusing gloss on a punk fashion icon who never gave up the safety pins.

October 13, 2019 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…

Roger Moore
Movie Nation