The Invisible Circus

The past is another country, or sometimes a rhubarb of several: in this sentimental relic, Holland, France, Germany and Portugal. Home is, or was, San Francisco for two sisters, but they end up in turn at opposite ends of the '70s in these old world haunts where they sow and reap the decade's upheavals like a before and after tagteam. First forward was Faith (Diaz), who fell from mischief to mayhem, and finally on to the coastal rocks of Cabo Espichel, leaving a hole in the heart of sister Phoebe (Brewster). This is where the film begins, with Phoebe contemplating her inner limbo in listless prose: 'I am sure there was a time when everything was perfect.' So she ventures to follow in Faith's footsteps. In Paris, she looks up Faith's old boyfriend Wolf (Ecclestone), and they revisit radical Berlin through his memories, and floral Portugal for real, waxing reminiscent. 'You guys were reinventing the world every single day,' she assures him. 'I thought I'd put it behind me, but the truth is I never let go,' he assents. A pork barrel of clichés, the film has a remarkably narrow, centripetal vision: it makes the political personal and it prunes away the personalities of two of its three main characters - blank satellites orbiting a black hole.