Bertolucci's latest film is designed with the pure geome­try of music in mind. In Kenya. Shadurai's (Thandie Newton) husband is arrested for opposing the military government. She moves to Rome and takes work cleaning the house of an expatriate English composer and pianist named Kinsky (David Thewlis, Naked). Kinsky's attentions become increasingly fevered until he eventually proposes to do anything for reciprocated love. Shadurai's terms: get her husband released from jail. After she sees Kinsky sell­ing his possessions and meeling with an African priest, she learns that her husband is to be freed. What arises is a heart-wrenching dilemma: Where does her heart lie, with her love, or the one who saved her love?