A sumptuous and stirring romantic drama.

Plodding, facile and fails to connect.

It could have worked, had it ever snapped to life, but it doesn't. It just goes on and on and on and on and on and on. And on. You may even shake your watch to check it is still going. I know I did.

The film was an unqualified success. Few movies lasting nearly three hours with quasi-downbeat material please both audiences and critics, yet it remains low on the lists of Pitt’s, Blanchett’s, Fincher’s, and Roth’s most notable efforts.