A bizarre, pretentious but sometimes quite absorbing arthouse movie which mixes its period medical drama with a dash of romance, and tops it off with some beautiful photography and a loving evocation of an era long past. At the turn of the century, when much medicine was still considered quackery, Paul Reisner (Clive Owen) emerges as the star pupil of the mysterious Prof Mandry (Charles Dance). But Reisner lands in big trouble when he falls in love with Clara (Miranda Richardson), a laboratory assistant with a mysterious past. The performances here are suitably enigmatic, but, under Poliakoff's arty direction, the film annoyingly takes a long time getting nowhere fast.


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