“One of the landmark works of gay cinema.”
​— David Hall, GayCelluloid.com

“An honest, generous film, which observes the conflicting love affairs with sympathy, and resists the temptation of a neat last-reel solution” —David Robinson, The Times

“Thirty years later, the film still offers a nuanced view of the personal and historical struggles surrounding the protagonist’s coming out story while commenting on the social history of homosexuality under Socialism.”   —Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, New York

"The descriptions of East Berlin's gay scene are revelations in themselves."
— Variety

"This is a psychological film, but not one, however, to go astray, merely dabbling in psychological posturing. It is a film which seeks to attain - and relies on - the grandest emotion."
— Helmut Ullrich in the Berlin Neue Zeit on Nov. 10, 1989

"This is what life-drawings by Leonardo or Michelangelo look like. Praise be to Martin Schlesinger's camera-work which operates photographically with the finest aesthetic feeling for corporeality."
— Rosemarie Rehahn in the Berlin Wochenpost on Nov. 24, 1989

"...a gripping story of a man searching for his true sexual identity."
— Image in the Dark, an Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian Films

"One of the best gay films I've seen. I only wish there were more films like this!"
— Stephen Bourne, London Gay Times, March 2001