This film had the potential to be a great movie. The main character is superbly played by Tom Conti in a
tour de force performance, on the strength of which I would recommend the film. The dialogue is very good and there are some wonderful scenes, but at points it also feels like a tv movie and the ending, which gives the impression that they wrote themselves into a corner, is utterly unsatisfying and facile. With a better director and a few adjustments to the script, this could have been one of the great classics, as it stands it's an interesting, albeit flawed movie, with one of the greatest performances I've seen. It's also a shame that there isn't a better copy of this movie out there.