What a sad flop, with the best of intentions. The message to the viewer is overly clear, it shouts: this is an artistic, slow and sensuous movie, contrasting Oriental philosophy with Western greed for speed and immediate effects. Well, yes, we get this rather soon, and then we suffer through the rest Perhaps slow movies are not exact equivalents of slow food, after all. <br /><br />There are some redemptive traits, though. The film could be see as an illustration of Joyce Carol Oates's observation that "prolonged happiness is a prison from which the self yearns to escape at any cost". People cannot stand a prolonged happiness, and the protagonist says so much himself. <br /><br />Another (attempt at) redemption: perhaps the movie is about the temptations of Orientalism typical for the era portrayed: the Western men, bored to tears, looking for any kind of adventure that the exotic Orient could offer them. Because if it is a love story, it is Hélène's love story, but if so, it is underdeveloped. The other "love story" is too ridiculous even to consider.<br /><br />Finally: it is true that seeing it in with a full screen can help; I have watched it as DVD, and although it was a very good screen, it could not reproduce the immersion effect possible on a large screen only.