French filmmaker
Patrice Leconte (
Felix and Lola,
The Suicide Shop) makes his English-language debut with this period romance adapted from Stefan Zweig's
Journey into the Past, and centering on the affair between a handsome male secretary and the wife of a wealthy industrialist. Frederic Zeitz (
Richard Madden) is a man whose strong work ethic is only exceeded by his formidable intelligence, which makes him the ideal candidate to work as an administrative assistant for prominent steel-factory owner Karl Hoffmeister (
Alan Rickman). Before long, sparks are flying between Frederic and Hoffmeister's younger wife Lotte (
Rebecca Hall), and the young secretary is invited to move in with his boss' family while tutoring his employer's young son Otto (
Toby Murray). Meanwhile, passions between the young pair begin burning out of control, leaving both to ponder an uncertain future as the powers of fate begin to push them apart.
