A Dumasian twenty years later the director of "La Salamandre" and of "Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l'an 2000" has done it again, he has given us another major masterpiece, this time based on a remarkable novel by Antonio Tabucchi.
An attempt to account for and cope with the unpredictable, irrational and painful twists and turns of life, leads this film unambiguously to the doors of poetry, ultimately "personified" in it by the ghost of Fernando Pessoa. Never before has a film so remarkably embodied the very essence of the poetic art. Tanner has found its exact cinematic counterpart. This film does not lecture or philosophise, it engages the viewer head on in a both deep and deeply moving fashion.
