People all over the world start crying uncontrollably, then lose their sense of smell and finally their hearing.
Some weird virus is about and there seems to be nothing anyone can do about it - but chef Ewan McGregor and scientist Eva Green begin a cautious love affair which somehow transcends what is happening.
David Mackenzie's film, set largely in Glasgow but with excerpts of the contagion worldwide interrupting the romance, clearly intends to tell us something. But it is difficult to discern exactly what: this is a sci-fi thriller cum love story that could have been either yet struggles a bit as both.
Both the principals, pictured, perform well - Green as a woman who hasn't done well with men and McGregor as a man who has done better with women - circling round each other as the world gradually implodes, finding more than comfort in each other.
It's handsomely shot by Giles Nuttgens and has a fine score by Max Richter. There are also good cameos from Denis Lawson, Ewen Bremner and Stephen Dillane but it lacks the power of the director's earlier Young Adam and Hallam Foe. The trouble is, when all is said and done, you want to know more about the virus and less about the love affair.
Perfect Sense
Cert: 15
