The first thing one notices about this film is that Michael Pitt speaks in a verrrrry slow monotone. Then you realize that it is right in keeping with this dull, plodding, endlessly pretentious film. This movie is not only boring, it's exhausting. You're in Europe, then China, then Europe, then China. Someone's reading a letter, someone's playing billiards, then letter then billiards then flowers. STOP! Who is this film made for? The male lead is totally uninteresting. Even Keira Knightly suffers from the ennui of the script.It would seems that Mr. Pitt has a name and even a following. One can't imagine why. He looks like a thousand other Hans Brinker-type actors, has no discernible charisma and couldn't provide a single moment of depth to this character. But then everyone else was equally tiresome. I suspect that the director, not speaking English very well, encouraged all the actors to say their lines as slowly as possible. That's the only possible explanation for this synthetic fabrication.