This latest work by the 86-year-old Portuguese writer-director Manoel de Oliveira showcases his eye for beautiful compositions, and his taste for detailed, magical narratives. And for the first time, de Oliveira works with movie stars--Catherine Deneuve and John Malkovich. An American professor and his dissatisfied wife, Hélene, journey to a remote monastery to conduct research. There, he hopes to find evidence to prove his thesis that William Shakespeare was actually a Sephardic Jew. When they arrive, the couple encounters the monastery's strange inhabitants, including the ancient building's sinister guardian, Baltar. De Oliveira suggests that one of the characters--maybe even Baltar or Hélene--is actually Satan, and develops a complex conflict between good and evil.