The soundless opening shots -- of soldiers stripping the bodies on an 1807 battlefield, piling them on carts, dumping them in mass graves -- summon up a powerfully oppressive mood. And the introduction of the title character as an ambulatory ghost (the Beethoven piece on the soundtrack is the "Ghost" Piano Trio, wouldn't you know?), an unblinking sleepwalker in a tattered overcoat and beaver hat, is evocative as well. And his predicament -- as a counted casualty of the Napoleonic Wars who, ten years later, comes back to reclaim his fortune and his remarried wife -- is immediately gripping. But then what? Flashbacks quickly remove any doubts in the viewer's mind about the legitimacy of the man's claim (no Martin Guerre, he), and the early grip soon relaxes under the soporific spell of a ton of verbiage which overtaxes the resources of even such graceful players as Gerard Depardieu, Fanny Ardant, Andre Dussollier, Claude Rich. Rigor mortis infects them all. And us all. Directed by Yves Angelo. (1994) — Duncan Shepherd
This movie is not currently in theaters.