Crystal Nights (1992)

A film that was totally worth the effort it took to track down. Crystal Nights begins in the days of the Metaxas dictatorship, where a German expat Isabelle falls in love with a Jewish iceman, Albert, who is just out of high school and half her age. The two discover they can listen to one another's thoughts and an impassioned affair begins. But when Albert grows tired of Isabelle's dominating nature and marries a girl his own age, she kills herself in despair. But her soul is still thirsty for his love, so she reincarnates herself as his niece, Anna, during the dark days of WWII. As the years drag on, Anna grows up into a beautiful young woman, but Isabelle, acting from beyond the grave, seeks to seduce Albert once again through Anna, and, well, if she cannot have his love, she can at least have her revenge. This is a sensual, fragmented, and sometimes hallucinatory film; a melancholy meditation on the futility of trying to outrun history, both personal and collective. Shot mostly in sepia tone, and black and white, with expressionistic splashes of color, Crystal Nights is a film that exists in the shadows of ghetto alleyways and haunted houses. It is a passionate, goosepimple inducing masterpiece. Crystal Nights deserves a lot better than the aged VHS copy I watched it on. If this had been made in France it would be in the Criterion Collection.