AllMovie

Love and reincarnation are the basic themes of this metaphorical Argentine fantasy. It is a serpentine tale with many interesting surprises. The story begins in 1885 New Jersey, as Thomas Edison's assistant says his final good bye to his recently deceased wife. Suddenly a vibrating zoetrope is seen and dreamy images and titles fill the screen which suddenly bursts into the vibrant world of contemporary Buenos Aires where Leopoldo is working as a projectionist in a ramshackle cinema. Leopoldo is married to Susana. He is obsessed with devising a machine that will record human dreams, an aspiration he shares with his closest friend Oscar, who has invented a robot in the image of a famous tango singer Carlos Gardel. One day Leopoldo awakens to discover that he has successfully recorded that night's dream in which he felt great love for a woman who lived 110 years ago. Shortly thereafter, he sees the very same woman standing outside his theater. Her name is Rachel and she calls him William. She explains that they have been lovers throughout the ages and have been reincarnated many times. Unfortunately, Leopoldo has no memory of her. Still they become lovers. The two come to a difficult juncture when Rachel decides that she has had enough reincarnation and simply wants to stay dead; on the other hand, Leopoldo is terrified of death and yet does not want to be forever apart from her.