The influence of Peter Greenaway and Derek Jarman is all too evident in this feminist tract from Sally Potter. Visually it is a lion's feast of a film, full of swagger and audacious in its execution. But Tilda Swinton is rather too fey in the starring role of a character who lives for 400 years changing sex in the course of time. She certainly looks androgynous enough, but just hasn't the acting oomph needed to power the bizarre story (based on Virginia Woolf's novel) to its conclusion. Scenes of the freezing of the River Thames in the 1600s - actually shot in Russia - are beautifully recreated and the production design (by Ben van Os and Jan Roelfs) and costumes (Sandy Powell) are ravishing. Quentin Crisp is an unlikely choice as an ageing Queen Elizabeth I - yet he's strangely affecting in the role. All in all, a real curio that will intrigue and irritate in equal measure.

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