Having impressed with 'The Confessional' and disappointed with 'No', Quebecois director Lepage makes his English-language debut with this cerebral yet antiseptic adaptation of playwright John Mighton's stage study of consciousness and existence.
Mighton is clearly a clever chap, and he succeeds in involving us in a deeply spurious plot about a murder victim's search for his dead wife. Tom McCamus and Tilda Swinton cleverly carry the conceit to its cock-eyed conclusion; Jonathan Freeman's cinematography brings a lyrical quality to the voguish decor, and Lepage's direction unfussily references the intense sophistication of Andrei Tarkovsky.
But whether audiences will be sufficiently intrigued to overcome their confusion is a matter for debate.