It is a modern Mephistopheles story- every time, the scientist made a decision for her tough and cold research and with that against compassion and the needs of her loved ones, she lost one of them. And each of those decisions was goaded on by the ever present Mephistopheles, played by THE PERFECT actor for the role, impersonating several people along the way. As soon as I saw him in the initial lecture she gave- and he sat there, smooth, smug, perfectly fitting in, the intelligent student, bit baby faced but still with calculating, bemused condescension watching her, diabolical quality in his perfect smile, ready to pounce- and then provoked her first open challenge of the church by filming her, involving the Monseigneur, getting her pride hooked - I knew, this will be a story about Mephisto's temptation and her ultimately"selling her soul" because he just looked, exuded that role, had "Mephistopheles" written all across him. He is a fantastic choice! And sure enough, every time she decided against her doubts and compassion and for being tough, her research, results and with that, for her vanity, one of her loved ones got taken - by the hatchet, that showed up briefly somewhere, when they died. I never thought that old story could still be integrated into modern life in such a meaningful and fantastically crafted way. Awesome movie, I am so impressed, and it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I loved the story.
