A strange, poetic little film that benefits from a great cast and beautiful cinematography. There are some ravishing moments in the film that alone make it worth watching, for example when Marie bothers her governess rollerskating back and forth before her chamber or when she puts a frog on her naked belly. I was reminded of the films of Jean Rollin (especially "Fascination", that in a similar way explores the magic of a lonely chateau) and Walerian Borowczyk (although he is much more extreme when it comes to naughty detail). I would say there is only one major flaw in the production: The director chose to let the people in the film talk as little as possible. Artistically, this may have been an interesting and daring decision, but unfortunately it seems to have been a wrong decision: It makes the narrative a bit tedious and takes away the life - no one really can believe that the people of the 19th century communicated nearly completely without words. Still, it's a very beautiful film that didn't get the attention it deserved.