When Night is Falling

Beautifully filmed, director Patricia Rozema's (I've Heard the Mermaids Singing) third effort bites off a serious philosophical chunk but doesn't chew so much as bludgeon the viewer with perfectly framed and lit shots, and a bit of soft-core lesbian eye candy. Camille (Pascale Bussières) teaches at a conservative religious college along with her main heterosexual squeeze (Henry Czerny). Captivated by a local circus performer named Petra (Rachael Crawford), Camille embarks on an on-again, off-again (with little rhyme or reason) torrid love affair with Petra. Although the film toys a bit with the rather loaded set-up (theologian chick falls for another chick possibly incurring God's wrath, at least through a literal reading of the Book she teaches), Rozema doesn't really explore the issue. What could have been a powerful love story is, instead, nicely filmed fluff. Optional. (R. Pitman)