Disappointed over-all

Rating: 5/10 (8 November 1999)

I came, I saw, but I was definitely not conquered by the critical raves this film has been receiving. While there is much to admire in terms of acting (consistently high all-round) and art direction, two aspects of the film left me feeling down-for-the-count.
First is the omnipresent voice-over narration. Admittedly, I am not a fan of this type of narrative short-cut, but in this instance, it was used liberally through-out and unnecessarily 90% of the time.
Second was the jaw-dropping plot twist, which I will not give away. A fine issue film was turned into a ridiculous metaphysical thriller and at this point, I lost interest.