This soapy saga is for adults only.

There's a whole lot of romantic and historical huffing and puffing in writer-director John Duigan's rickety epic, most all of it recycled from other films.

The story becomes a long slog because Duigan doesn't define his characters and because he's determined to touch too many of the familiar '30s European bases.

Head in the Clouds is not perfect. It is too theatrical in its presentation and gets overly melodramatic. However, the film also does what few movies do nowadays: it presents a love story which is actually believable.