SCREEN SHOT - Three Thousand Years Of Longing.

This film is an adaption based on an original story by A S Byatt. Three Thousand Years Of Longing, is richly embellished and a wonderfilled romp through love and its travails. 

Dr Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton, complete with impeccable Yorkshire accent ) is a storytelling expert, who is in Istanbul for a conference, where she is a star speaker. She lives and breaths the world of myths and the archetypal realms. To the extent that recently her imagination appears to be bringing them literally to life. During a talk an apparition attacks her and she passes out.

Whilst recuperating in the bazzar, she buys an attractive glass bottle. Arriving back in her hotel room, she opens it. A huge Jinn ( Idris Elba ) bursts forth  offering Alithea the statutory three wishes. But she knows all too well that these sort of wishes can be tricky, even deceptive, so refuses to make any. The Jinn regails her with his experiences of past wishes, and what their consequences have been for him. Often resulting in being trapped in a bottle for hundreds of years.

Set piece fantasy and dramatic magical effects add all the necessary background of Arabian Nights exoticism to this film. The chemistry between Swinton and Elba is good. Formed largely through witty and sharply written repartee. As the film progresses, Alithea and the Jinn's affection for each other grows ever closer. 

A major theme of the stories the Jinn tells is that we often do not know what we really need, and hence do not think carefully about the consequences of what we wish for. That the worst thing for us, sometimes, is to get exactly what we wish for. Such is the nature of our romantic delusions.

I was thoroughly enchanted by this film. The director George Miller injects great warmth and visual inventiveness that draws you in and holds your attention. Though it does tend strongly toward being  wordy, that is more than compensated for by the two central performances and the multifaceted nature of the flying carpet of tales it tells. A really enjoyable film.

CARROT REVIEW - 6/8