Uh? I recommend watching this movie six times in succession if you really think you must honestly understand it. Once was too many times for me. First of all, there is no indication this took place in a convent, at best it is a monastery. Nuns do not have those libraries and there is little indication the feminine presence was accommodated in many other ways.The photography may be worthy, but it comes as a complete surprise to me that this movie was preceded by any kind of written guideline. If I had to guess, I would have thought that a director, producer or something and his entourage stumbled on a picturesque location while on a wine tasting tour and decided then and there to call in some uncommitted actors and cameramen and just wing it.The researcher is constantly reading and doing mysterious things on his computer. The deep philosophical conversations with no apparent purpose remind me of Junior HIgh school conversations I used to have with my more gifted friends. The ending? Who knows? Frankly, who cared by then? If I had been present, my urge would have been to follow somebody, anyone to their lair and make sure that any unused remaining film was destroyed.

A seventeen year old could do this at home. Here's how:Take the most low-rent, brain-dead Hollywood teenage Satan-worshipper slasher flick you can imagine. Now: edit out the teenagers, edit out the violence, edit out the gore, edit out anything remotely suspenseful or titillating, and replace it all with quotes from Goethe and Nietzsche. Now,take it all very seriously and say you have an art film.I guess if you are eighty-five instead of seventeen, someone in Europe will give you a prize. Sort of a sympathy award for a crazy old uncle.Everything about this movie except for a few shots of the Iberian countryside is appallingly bad. The script has to be the laziest and most inept I have ever encountered outside of a community college classroom. Who knows what Malkovich and Deneuve were thinking if they actually read it before agreeing to make this film (assuming there ever was actually a script that could be read). Who knows what they thought when they saw the rushes. In fact, my theory about the ending is that all the actors (except the fisherman, I guess) simply abandoned the project in exasperation, walked off the set, and never came back. It's that ludicrous and incoherent.And the Shakespeare theory that is supposedly the inspiration and impetus behind this entire trainwreck...to call it lazy, sophomoric, and stupid is to give it more substance and development than the movie ever bothered to.Funniest, most unintentionally hilarious moment? When Deneuve tells "Baltar" (I'm not making that name up) how magnetic and irresistible he is. Only a great actress could have done that without needing oxygen almost immediately.

This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. There is no plot, no action, no laughs, no "food for thought". Further, the characters are terribly dull and the acting just mediocre. From the very beginning, I never did understand what was going on. And after about 15 minutes, I didn't care. The ending was the silliest thing I've ever witnessed. Anyone who says this is a good movie must either be getting paid or else is trying to impress someone. No one, and I mean no one, who enjoys movies could find a single redeeming quality in this bomb.

Seldomly do we get films with such an interesting and involving plot as this one. An absolute joy to watch, with an excellent cast. There are not many films with such an interesting and fascinating plot as this one. Part of what makes the film such fascinating viewing is the settings and the stories that are associated with them. First rate cinema and obviously a moment of pure genius for the film maker.