A Romanian aristocrat retreats to a desert isle with his wife and servants on the eve of World War II.
Acting
O'Toole at his most dissolute; Rampling icier than the ocean.
Cinematography
Desert island as suffocating velvet trap, not paradise.
Direction
Ripstein's Mexican-lensed chamber drama of European decay.
Director
Arturo Ripstein
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made in Mexico with international stars, it's a Latin American art film disguised as Euro-arthouse—a rare Ripstein English-language venture.
The title refers to a dance step: one forward, one back, one side—mirroring the characters' circular, doomed movements toward each other.
MX
GB
