"Dark at Noon" premiered at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival where the film competed for the Palme d’Or. The film also screened at the Chicago International Film Festival the same year and in 1993 it was briefly released theatrically in several countries. "Dark at Noon" received both positive and negative reviews from critics ranging from the highest praise to complaints about the plot being confusing and incomprehensible. Frédéric Richard wrote in "Positif" magazine (July 1992 issue): "The eye that lies was without a doubt the most original movie of the competition, the more positively innovative and most interesting for its look carried on the world of the pictures. No luck of prize, therefore, for Raul Ruiz to the festival of Cannes, dominated this year by a manifest reactionary tendency. With the oeii that lies, Ruiz achieves a funny, oniric and troubling movie." However, a less favorable review of "Dark at Noon" calls the film "intriguing or amusing at times, but mostly infuriatingly confusing and random." Richard Scheib gives the film a 1 star rating and claims Ruiz has no idea of plot.