Search: Starring Frances O'Connor

The effects and gadgets are secondary to David's quest. That is Spielberg all over. Wherever there is a heartbeat, he stimulates it. Wherever there are tears, he finds them.

A slow-burning, emotionally haunting film that thrusts the bond between mother and child under a microscope.

While the script wraps up its ambiguities a little too neatly in the end, the themes it wrestles with are sensitively handled for the most part and resonate long after the credits have rolled.

But the real disappointment is Everett, who gives a lazy performance, as if he knows he can do this backwards and simply can't be bothered.

Brought up a notch by a fine cast, some genuinely funny scenes and a curious darker streak that lies beneath the laughs.

Rozema has freed costume drama from the shackles of tradition.

Proof that when you combine a great premise and a talented director, you don't necessarily strike gold.

John Woo specialises in the spectacle of violent death and, after a while, this becomes monotonous.