A trilogy of three love stories set in three different times, played by the same actors Qi Shu and Chen Chang: 1966: "A Time for Love", 1911: "A Time for Freedom" and 2005: "A Time for Youth". All three films are visually sumptuous, and well acted, but the slow pace which is sometimes used by critics to characterise "Asian films" in this case masks pure, albeit beautiful, vacuity. By attempting to do too much, the film succeeds in very little, and we are left with cardboard models, gratuitous use of historical context and empty emotions.

The first part, "A Time for Love", is the strongest, drawing you into a gentle and shy love story between May, a girl who works in a pool hall, and Chen, a young man who has become a soldier. Their love grows on paper, and their scarce meetings are full of unspoken desire. In retrospect, it could be the strongest as your level of exasperation is lower and you are more giving. The second, "A Time for Freedom", is visually stunning, but you are left wanting more substance to the shots. It supposedly recounts a story of love between a courtesan and a rich business man, though it seems more about attraction stirred by intermittent meetings than any deeper feelings. The last story, "A Time for Youth", is yet again beautiful to look at, but by now you have no patience left and the frivolous physicality of the characters and their dependence on technology merges into disjointedness. At this point I was just wondering how long there was left to sit through.

The sub-titles employ grand words without justification or depth. Love, Freedom and Youth are apparent to some degree in all three stories and it seems misplaced to have branded each with a label which becomes meaningless. Any true context is lost to the formal beauty of the shots and the passing mentions of politics, social history and technology are superficial. A beautiful, shallow journey which is perfect if you are gently tired and looking for something highly soporific.