In a story based on Chekhov, Has captures the writer's great theme of human beings failing to respond or even make contact with one another, and the pervading mood of sadness that arises from this situation. A distinguished professor of medicine, facing old age, reflects on the sterility of his life and his one point of contact with the world, his protegée, an actress. "A slow film leading to the existential question of why and how to live, filtered by rich expression and caustic humor-Has's way." (Le Quotidien de Paris). "Whether set in past or present, Has's works are permeated by a strong nostalgia-not for the social or material trappings of another age, but for the mysteries of the passage of time itself." (Derek Elley)