GeneSiskel

A man and a woman co-exist for twenty years in the same heavenly space -- a kitchen garden and all that comes from it -- self-absorbed in a craft and hardly interacting. Call them Adam and Eve. Then one day she feeds him -- a French apple so to speak -- and he feeds her, and after that reality emerges and they experience desire, evil, and mortality. Or maybe they just dream that they do. This French-Vietnamese take on the Book of Genesis is overly long and, I'm sorry to say, ultimately not all that interesting. See it if you enjoy 18th or 19th century kitchens and their daily routines. Otherwise consider spending the price of admission elsewhere.

This film, although set in 1959, was apparently intended to mimic the sensibility of a 19th century British novel of manners. Accordingly, nearly all of the action takes place between the ears of its overdrawn, class-conscious characters, who, between servings of tea, speak in modulated tones about their hopes, expectations, trepidations, and uncertainties. I never stopped checking my watch. This is a genre that worked until about 1870. It doesn't work here.