Amy (Olga Kurylenko) looks to be quite a complex character. Studying for her doctorate in astrophysics, she funds her university course taking jobs as a movie stunt-woman, whilst also carrying on a largely electronic affair with a man old enough to be her grandfather. Her lover is Professor Ed Phoerum (Jeremy Irons) who sees her when he can (she lives in England, he in Edinburgh), but communicates regularly using email, Skype and sms.
When he proves difficult to contact over several months Amy begins to wonder what's become of him. She finds the answer by accident. Ed is dead. He died five days before she hears, yet she is still receiving messages from him. What's going on? It turns out the old man has conceived an elaborate plot to continue sending her messages from beyond the grave at key moments in her life. So the emails and texts, and little notes and presents, still come in, and videos of a talking head Ed arrive on DVD. He wants to continue to provide a (paternalistic) guiding hand in her life.
The festival programme describes this film as "a profoundly moving contemplation of the true nature of endless love and loss", and I expected much from the director of the wonderful Cinema Paradiso. So this turkey was a huge disappointment. There are far too many 'convenient' plot devices holding the improbable storyline together, and the dialogue, perhaps because it was originally written in Italian, feels artificial and flat. It is beautifully filmed, and both Edinburgh and the Italian Lakes provide backdrops dripping with character. Both Kurylenko and Irons give decent performances within the limits of their material.
But, far from being romantic, Ed's actions feel manipulative and creepy. How would someone really react to having a dead stalker? Not like the compliant Amy one imagines. This is a film smelling strongly of "old man's fantasy" - not a scent I care for.
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