昏暗冰冷的审讯室内,满身伤痕的私家侦探内德·克鲁兹(安东尼奥·班德拉斯 Antonio Banderas 饰)正在接受波利(威廉·菲德内尔 William Fichtner 饰)等三名洛杉矶警察的残酷质询。他被指控撞人致死,在拳脚的胁迫下,内德缓缓道出了这几天的经历。他最先讲述了当红偶像明星同性恋丑闻引发的杀人事件,这是整个故事的开端。随后,在那个潮湿而神秘的夜晚,内德遇见身形巨大、长相凶恶的来自俄罗斯的前拳击手安东·普罗托夫(罗伯特·梅耶 Robert Maillet 饰)。安东雇佣内德寻找一名失踪的脱衣舞女,而这一切似乎又与安东背后的俄罗斯黑帮有着千丝万缕的关系。
不久,安东死于非命,内德则继续寻找舞女的下落。在这一过程中,接受过他询问的人不断死亡。内德走上了一条光怪陆离的神秘之路……
在充满狂乱且略带忧伤的夜晚,一对夫妇痛失可爱的幼子尼克。这件事给他们以莫大的打击,也让这段原本便矛盾暗生的婚姻走向崩溃边缘。妻子(夏洛特•甘斯布 Charlotte Gainsbourg 饰)久久沉浸悲痛中无法自拔,身为心理咨询师丈夫(威廉•达福 Willem Dafoe 饰)一方面希望弥合破裂的婚姻,另一方面试图通过心理疏导让妻子忘记过去。最终,他们决定前往位于伊登(Eden)森林的小木屋中缓释心情。此前一年,女人曾带着尼克在此撰写一篇关于基督和反女性的论文,过往的回忆让重蹈此地的她紧张慌乱。心理治疗在焦灼烦躁的情绪中进行,夫妻俩没有找到渴望已久的光明,反而堕入更加无边的黑暗之中……
本片荣获2009年戛纳电影节最佳女主角奖(Charlotte Gainsbourg)。
This is an unusual film of exceptional values--75 minutes long in color, with hardly any spoken dialogs. I saw this Iranian film in Farsi without English subtitles at the Early Iranian cinema retrospective on-going International Film Festival of Kerala, India. That I was watching a print without subtitles did not make a difference as there were very few lines of spoken dialogs. This is a very accessible film for any audience to enjoy--its story and values are not merely Iranian, it's universal. The film is set in rural Iran that had not tasted petro-dollar prosperity. The setting is on fringes of desert land, where water is scarce, rainfall scanty and hardly any blade of grass is green. Add to it wind and dust that buffets and whips man and animal and you can imagine plight of the people who live on the fringes of society. The film is moving tale of a young teenager returning to his village with a goat--only to find his family and villagers have moved on to escape natures vagaries and that one old man remains. He gives the goat to him and goes in search of his family. Water is scarce and well water it treated with reverence and never wasted.