This film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Romanian theologian Iliad.In 1938, Dominic Matte (Tim Roth), a philosophy professor in his seventies, planned to commit suicide, but was suddenly hit by lightning.Dominic, who was seriously burned, was treated by Romanian doctor Professor Stancurisku (played by Bruno Ganz). After he recovered, Dominic found that he was reborn and split into another personality.Not only that, Dominic also has special abilities such as dream learning, perspective, and mind transfer.In order to avoid the tracking of Nazi doctor Rudolph (André Hennicke), Dominic's pseudonym traveled to Switzerland, Romania, Malta, India and other places until the end of World War II.In the 1960s, Dominic met a woman named Veranika (Alexandra Maria Lara) during a mountain climb, exactly the same as his young fiancee Laura.Veranica and her friend were in danger in the mountains. After being treated by Dominic, she had the ability to trace the language in her dream, but she accelerated her aging.On the one hand, Dominic hopes that Veranika will help him complete the works of the origin of language and time, but on the other hand, he does not want to see his lover die prematurely because of this, and he suffers from the conflict...
This film was nominated for Best Photography by the Independent Spirit Award.