A young American priest, bored with the routines of his daily life, gets dragged into a messy situation by an apparently vulnerable woman. Disgraced, he is sent to Rome for spiritual rehabilitation, but finds himself being asked to infiltrate a shadowy underground group to try and prevent a murder attempt.
Uncertain why he's been given the job, his life becomes more and more confusing. As fantasy and reality become intermingled, is he there to prevent the ope being assassinated in 2016, or foil a plot to kill Mussolini in 1942? Is he dreaming, or being drugged, or losing his mind? He might manage to solve the mystery, but at what cost?
The cinematography is wonderful, with some stunning shots and sequences, and there's effective use of repetition to suggest the craziness of the world we're being drawn in to. Francois Arnaud's disturbed Father Smith is good at conveying the nightmarish quality of his experiences, but sometimes looks to be trying too hard to be a Bogartesque gumshoe. But Charles, the eminence gris who propels Smith into his sometimes dangerous assignment, is played in suavely sinister fashion by the excellent Jordi Molla.
Supernatural, metaphysical, multi layered, this is a treat for film buffs who enjoy the uncertainty of nuance.
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