Greenwood's success is underscored by the closing scene. In flashback, the film portrays Francis before the loss of his family. Since this is the only scene where Francis appears clean-shaven, it was shot last. The authenticity of Greenwood's performance is overwhelming. You recognize Francis from the tiniest physical parallels -- the way he shifts in his seat, the way he moves his mouth -- but his face has changed utterly. Shifting back in time, Greenwood has left the pain behind and the damaged Francis is gone.
Timothy Taylor, Saturday Night 12/16/00

Bruce Greenwood [is] perhaps the best actor Egoyan has ever had in his mastery of deep disturbance beneath an ordinary surface....
Film Comment Jan/Feb 1998

The standout in the ensemble cast is Greenwood, whose portrayal of a man tortured by incestuous longings is subtle and extrememly effective.
Time Out/NY 10/18/95

With his scruffy beard and haunted demeanour, Bruce Greenwood -- unrecognizable from his St. Elsewhere days -- is impressive as Francis, a Revenue Canada inspector.
The Georgia Straight 10/14/94

As far as the major actors are concerned, there isn't a weak performance. The quiet intensity of Bruce Greenwood; the flamboyant, almost-snarling sadism of Elias Koteas; and the nervous timidity of Don McKellar breathe vitality into Egoyan's scripted personalities.
Los Angeles Webstation and Juniper Daily (1995)

At the core of this painful cat-and-mouse game are a pair of extraordinary performances by Mia Kirshner (Chrissy) and Bruce Greenwood (Francis). Both are islands of emotion standing about the atmosphere of pumped-up sexuality that surrounds them. Greenwood gives Francis a mysterious twist. He is a wretch of a character, a man so down-and-out that the highest that he can reach out for sanctuary is a place normally thought of as society's lowest rung.
Film.com, Inc.

The film contains marvelous acting performances. Bruce Greenwood (The Sweet Hereafter, 1997) plays Francis with quiet gravity. In striking contrast, he is buoyant and shining in the film’s last, flashback sequence—the only time in the film his daughter is still alive.
Girish Shambu, Sense of Cinema 3/01

The pleasure of Exotica lies in the witty and mind-tickling ways that Egoyan suspends our knowledge of how these stories ultimately fit together. It lies, as well, in Greenwood's performance; he makes the soft-spoken Francis a moving figure of loss and inchoate desire.
Entertainment Weekly 3/24/95.

Hovering on Christina's periphery are.....and Francis (Bruce Greenwood, giving a spectacular, raw performance), a melancholy business type who enjoys a very special relationship with his favorite dancer.
L.A.Weekly 3/3/95

And a handsome, sad-looking man named Francis (Bruce Greenwood) turns Christina's table dances into a private ritual, night after night repeating the same question, "How could anyone hurt you?".........At the heart of the story is the mysterious, deep connection between Francis and Christina, perfectly played by Mr. Greenwood and Ms. Kirshner with an unsettling mix of sexuality and innocence. The heartbreaking tangle beneath their relationship is not revealed until the final scenes.
New York Times 3/3/95

Kirshner is excellent and Greenwood is splendid as he fights the demons who have invaded his life.
St. Louis Post Dispatch 3/24/95

In a scene at the end of Exotica, Francis is seen as he was before his world fell apart. The contrast between the portraits of Francis then and Francis now is so striking that some have seen the part as played by two different actors.
The Globe and Mail 12/9/94

Bruce Greenwood is at home as Francis, and in his final scene made a whole row of the theatre mouth a surprised 'wow'.
Salient Film & Theatre

Greenwood does create a truly haunted figure. This Quebec native, best-known for St. Elsewhere and action-movie junk (Passenger 57), has been so challenged by Egoyan's decision to cast him against type that he submerges himself completely in the role. You can't help but worry about him.
Film Comment

Greenwood is haunting and haunted as Francis, the most complex of the characters.
Knoxville News-Sentinel

The script, also by Egoyan, is chiefly concerned with somber sadsack Francis Brown (Bruce Greenwood), an accounting auditor.
The Daily Helmsman, The University of Memphis, 4/18/96.

Christina.....seems to be of special fascination for a sad-eyed tax auditor named Francis (Bruce Greenwood) who, night after night performs a tearful dialogue with her that suggests deep torment in his life.
Newsday 3/3/95

The film's key relationship is between a bearded, nice-looking thirtysomething tax auditor named Francis (Bruce Greenwood), who regularly patronizes the club, always requesting the same table dancer.... clearly Egoyan inspires trust in actors, and Exotica is replete with selfless portrayals....
Los Angeles Times 3/3/95

The performances are dead-on, especially Greenwood's slightly twisted accountant and Mia Kirshner as Christina, the stripper with whom Francis is obsessed.
Film Critic

One who talks to his dancer is a tax auditor named Francis (Bruce Greenwood), who has enough psychological baggage to fill an airport terminal.
Middlesex News

Exotica, which opens today, is a moody reflection on loneliness and desire. It stars Bruce Greenwood as Francis, the tax adjuster who needs a little adjusting himself. Bottled-up and on edge, he just wants someone to sit on him. Is that so much to ask? As Francis, Greenwood goes through the film bug-eyed, and you keep waiting for him to kill somebody. He has the personality of a decoy suspect in a murder mystery, the one you always think did it but never does.
San Francisco Chronicle 3/3/95.

Acclaimed Canadian director Atom Egoyan brings a tale about an average guy, Francis (Bruce Greenwood - best known for boffing then stalking the bodacious Paige of Knots Landing), with a hidden past and a bizarre obsession. Just how average is he? Well how 'bout being a Tax Auditor for starters, not exactly most people's idea of rip-roarin' stimulation, is it? Greenwood's understated performance is strong and believable. Sure he's a little off the deep end, but despite all the weirdness going on, the audience can still identify with him because he looks like an everyday person. We know something has forced this handsome, intelligent guy off the freeway a few exits early.
eznet

Greenwood keeps us guessing: his performance is more interesting than the film or the man he plays.
News and Observer

Bruce Greenwood stars as Francis, a man crippled by tragedy. Still suffering from the death of his daughter, he transforms his mourning into disturbing psychological games that draw both a young babysitter (Sarah Polley) and an exotic dancer named Christina (Mia Kirshner) into his pain. As Francis pushes at the limits of his obsession, his own desires become tangled with the already knotted lives around him.
The Princess Cinema

On the day of the Genies, actor Bruce Greenwood was in Toronto anticipating the two-hour live telecast that would reveal whether or not he walked away with a best actor award for his mesmerizing performance in Atom Egoyan's Exotica.
The Globe and Mail 12/9/94

[Greenwood] abruptly picked up on the interviewer's research materials, in which one reviewer lauded his "matinee idol good looks." "Oh, that's an old review," he said dismissively. Not so old. Barely two months off the presses. Greenwood looks VERY good. Especially in comparison to his Exotica persona Francis, a tax auditor devastated by the death of his daughter and subsequently becomes fixated on a stripper who performs á la school girl.
Toronto Star 12/9/94

The film, which won eight Genies Wednesday night, will undoubtedly raise Greenwood's profile in his native Canada.
The Globe and Mail, 12/9/94

As [Greenwood] gets older, he finds himself wanting to return to projects that are less money-driven and more heartfelt. Projects like, well ... Exotica.
The Globe and Mail 12/9/94

On Best Actor Award at Cannes:
Outside chances also go to France's Daniel Auteuil for his role as Henri of Navarre in the historical melodrama Queen Margot, and maybe, just maybe, to Bruce Greenwood for his muted performance as a troubled taxman in Atom Egoyan's Exotica.
Toronto Star 5/22/94