With the aid of some friends, Luis has fled both persecution and imprisonment. Now the solitary inhabitant of a forgotten island, he spends much of his time writing a diary and exploring his new environment. He also likes poking around a ruined villa which must have been the elegant dwelling of a very rich man. His routine is disturbed by the sudden arrival of a group of well-heeled and carefree people...
Quite a good fantasy/science fiction movie on a very original premise. Layered and complex, it is many things : an examination of the corrosive nature of loneliness, an unconventional love story, a condemnation of the futility and sterility of hedonism, a description of the ravages of erotic obsession, a philosophical or even religious discussion about the battle between "maya" and reality. But first and foremost it seems to be a meditation on the double-edged sword that is cinema, which safeguards, immortalizes and resuscitates while robbing, tricking, aping and neutering.
The end is striking and will give rise to many a discussion : has Luis found hell, heaven, a blend of the two or even something else entirely ?
Protagonists Alain Saury (as Luis) and Juliette Mills (as Faustine) both do very well - and they make a very handsome couple. (Or perhaps non-couple... ?) And the villa is indeed charming and hideous at the same time, as are its partying inhabitants.
If you like some of the themes being explored, you might want to watch the very British "The stone tape", in the horror genre, or the German "World on a wire", in the fantasy/science fiction genre. Beware, "The stone tape" requires excellent nerves...
Quite a good fantasy/science fiction movie on a very original premise. Layered and complex, it is many things : an examination of the corrosive nature of loneliness, an unconventional love story, a condemnation of the futility and sterility of hedonism, a description of the ravages of erotic obsession, a philosophical or even religious discussion about the battle between "maya" and reality. But first and foremost it seems to be a meditation on the double-edged sword that is cinema, which safeguards, immortalizes and resuscitates while robbing, tricking, aping and neutering.
The end is striking and will give rise to many a discussion : has Luis found hell, heaven, a blend of the two or even something else entirely ?
Protagonists Alain Saury (as Luis) and Juliette Mills (as Faustine) both do very well - and they make a very handsome couple. (Or perhaps non-couple... ?) And the villa is indeed charming and hideous at the same time, as are its partying inhabitants.
If you like some of the themes being explored, you might want to watch the very British "The stone tape", in the horror genre, or the German "World on a wire", in the fantasy/science fiction genre. Beware, "The stone tape" requires excellent nerves...