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Summary

A feverish obsession consumes Ottavio de Saville, a young man ensnared by the unattainable allure of Madame Prascovie Labinska, a paragon of marital fidelity to her Polish husband, Count Olaf Labinski. As Ottavio's vitality wanes, his very being seemingly dissolving under the relentless pressure of unrequited passion, his anxious circle of intimates seeks a radical solution. Their desperate hope rests upon Doctor Balthazar, a figure recently returned from the mystical East, specifically the Indian subcontinent, where he has assimilated the arcane tenets of Brahmanic lore. This intervention heralds a perilous spiritual gambit, a desperate attempt to transmute the essence of a soul to alleviate a suffering that transcends the physical, venturing into realms where identity and desire become terrifyingly fluid.

Synopsis

Based on Théophile Gautier's novel of the same name, the film tells of the tragic love affair of Ottavio de Saville. He falls madly in love with Madame Prascovie Labinska, a woman very faithful to her husband, the Polish count Olaf Labinski. Alarmed by the growing physical and mental weariness of the desperate young man, his relatives and friends decide to turn to Doctor Balthazar, who has just returned from a trip to the Indies where he was initiated into the secrets of Brahman.