In this whimsical fable, Resnais deftly interweaves three story lines: the creation of an early-20th-century utopia; romantic high jinks at a school conference; and a fantasy sparked by F/X pioneer Georges Méliès.
Resnais speculates on the utopian dream that life is infinitely perfectable, that human chaos, despair and horror can be spirited or educated out of existence. There are two stories, to correspond to each of these possibilities.
– ,
Time Out,
30 Jun 2007
rotten:
The material manages at once to be both precious and dry, the staging is unprofitably claustrophobic, and the structure less ingenious than arbitrary.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
30 Jun 2007
rotten:
It's more memorable for various isolated witticisms and images than it is as a coherent whole. And its flightier touches can be deadly.