This bizarre, one-of-a-kind film from Alain Resnais is a sort of rude sideshoot from Citizen Kane, only with John Gielgud as the dislikeable, dying old novelist, effing and blinding away in his lonely mansion as the pain gets worse. When his children visit him they turn out to be totally different from the crude characters he daydreamed them to be in his drunken fantasies. David Mercer's script is a flamboyant criss-cross of role-play and Freudian puzzles, with Gielgud as both tormentor and victim. Dirk Bogarde, in one of his last roles, gives strong backup to Gielgud as his illegitimate son. Mercer finds worthy allies in photographer Ricardo Aronovitch and composer Miklos Rosza, who both make major contributions to the film.

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