The opening of the curtain for this very experimental and speculative film immediately reminds you of the great cinematography of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and their masterpiece "A Matter of Life and Death". There is no war here, but the issue of death is omnipresent. The story is not quite clear, there is too much fantasy while the realism is not enough, as it gets muddled up in mysteries that never are explained. Whatever happened to doctor Frisch, for example? Bianca is adamant in believing that it is all fake, that death does not exist, and that they are all hospitalized in an asylum, but there is nothing wrong with her, so that aspect must be taken into account. It also reminds somewhat of Alain Resnais in his most enigmatic intricacies, while at least both Peter O'Toole and Colin Firth are quite convincing in their parts. It's an odd film like no other, and the mythological touch is very efficient and intriguing. It's all a kind of experimental fantasy and suggestion of an idea, that actually is more reasonable than it appears, especially when you enter an allegorical scrutiny and analysis. It is fascinating all the way, although you will have to bear with certain incomprehensible anomalies.
