ETHER / ETER

„The story takes place at the beginning of the twentieth century. Poland is under occupation by foreign empires. Somewhere, in the territory annexed by Russia, a doctor uses ether to narcotise a young woman and satiate his desires without resistance. She never wakes up. In consequence, the doctor is sentenced to death. At the last moment, the death sentence is substituted by exile, and the doctor is sent to a military fortress in the Austrian partition, led by a certain commander. Here, besides his regular medical practice, he continues his experiments with ether, aimed to manipulate people and control their free will, emotions and minds. Unexpectedly, the doctor finds himself at the centre of an espionage plot. This might all seem to be the main, visible layer of Ether, but there is also another, secret layer which allows us to see the film as a reinterpretation of the myth of Faust.
Zanussi’s modernity is always cautiously present. After telling the doctor’s story more or less straight under the title “The Known Story,” he surprises the audience by doubling back over events in a coda dubbed “The Secret Story” that explains the theological underpinnings of it all.“
Deborah Young, TheHollywoodReporter