A melancholy poet reflects on three women he loved and lost in the past—a mechanical performing doll, a seductive Venetian courtesan, and a soprano who sings herself to death—all of whom broke his heart in different ways.

Powell & Pressburger’s resplendent Technicolor adaptation of the E.T.A. Hoffmann opera reveals, once more, the duo’s boundless cinematic imagination. Unabashedly opulent in its flamboyant colour-coded scenes, which daringly combine theatre, dance, opera and film, it’s a total feast for the senses.