Steeped in macabre mystery, TheSerpent's Tale wraps a political allegory in the dark cloth of a gothic,forbidding quest. Lamia Koprulu is the last in a line of aristocraticOttomans. Her final hope for an heir, an illegitimate son, Haldun, hasdied in a boating accident. When an American stranger arrives with newsthat her son is alive, Lamia inspires a search that leads to a scrollcontaining dark secrets. The Serpent's Tale captures the essence ofcontemporary Turkey where a fading aristocracy struggles to maintain itssecular power. Repelled by the vulgarity of westernized culture, Lamiaretreats to the comforts of the past. But this nostalgia has itsdreadful costs, for in the terms of Kutlug Ataman's film, the past ispeopled by the living dead. A young Turkish director schooled atU.C.L.A., Ataman has combined western film aesthetics with easternmysticism. Almost hermetic in its structure, The Serpent's Talereluctantly divulges its story, relying instead on sumptuous imagery andhaunted moments.-Steve Seid