A bit of a slow-moving film. A nice period piece, set in a remote trading post in Nineteen-Twenties Malaysia. It is sort of a study of isolation, as the route in or out is closed half of the year until the monsoon rains raise the river level enough for boat traffic. Many of the characters are quite odd, and more than a little creepy. The actors seem to have played these parts well. I wouldn't have recognized Olypia Dukakis if I hadn't known she was in the cast, and she played the not-too-bright Russian housekeeper/nanny pretty well. The star, Janet McTeer, with whom I was not familiar, played the forty-ish consort of a 28-ish surveyor/engineer, very, very well. She bravely looked less attractive than she could be, to match the period and setting.