Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is a bookish scholar who studies narratology. Having landed in Istanbul for a conference, she is confronted by a small man who doesn't seem entirely substantial. During a presentation at the conference, she sees a scowling ghostly figure in the crowd. No matter where she looks, there is the increasingly angry figure that suddenly attacks! After being revived from having feinted away, she explains that she has an overactive imagination and sometimes hallucinates. Later, during a visit to the Grand Bazaar, she buys a bottle. While brushing her teeth the following morning, she decides to pull the cap, which is firmly stuck by some resin. No sooner does she pop the top than out swirls a Djinn (Idris Elba). Though he offers her 3 wishes, she is resistant. She knows that the wishes never end well. The Djinn offers his tale of woe regarding his imprisonment in the bottle and his multiple attempts to fulfill the three wishes and free himself, all ending badly.
Is the Djinn just another of Alithea's hallucinations? Are his tales just a figment of her fertile imagination that is fueled by long years of reading? That all his tales end exactly as she predicts might say so. However, there are times when it seems others see the Djinn.
Not at all what one expects from George Miller, most noted for his apocalyptic Mad Max films. Then again, he also did Babe: Pig in the City and the Happy Feet series. Interesting and engaging but not satisfying. It is an unusual love story, a romance of two oddballs. Then again, maybe it is the descent into insanity of a lonely woman.
Just okay.
