It's really 2-1/2 because I couldn't reconcile the parts of Clare's personality. She was almost a "Faces of Eve" between the flashbacks and the present. The scenes with her son also failed to ring true. The story arcs of the lover and the Turk were both too far-fetched, as well. And there's a tim...
What appears to be a simple telling of one day in the life of a diplomat's wife, preparing for a dinner party, is a wonderful, complex, layered story. The 'coincidences' can be forgiven, because it is told so elegantly and eloquently. The atmosphere is beautifully drawn, and I could almost smell ...