The film was inspired by the book Angel Face, drawn from crime coverage by Newsweek/Daily Beast writer Barbie Latza Nadeau.

The Face of an Angel was executively produced by Eric Anidjar, Leon Benarroch, Andrew Eaton, Jordan Gertner, Chris Hanley, Susana Hornil, Anthony Jabre, Christine Langan, Norman Merry, Roberto Mitrani, Reza Safinia, and Ed Wethered.

As of December 2022[update], the film holds a 37% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 51 reviews with an average score of 5.1/10.

The website's critics consensus reads: "The Face of an Angel finds director Michael Winterbottom in pursuit of ideas that remain frustratingly diffuse and agonizingly out of his grasp.

"[7] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 37 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.