The film stars Daryl Hannah as assistant Jane Ryder, and Tom Conti as author Sir Paul.
He is looking for an amanuensis or "ghost writer" to help him write his final book, an autobiography, and interviews several unsuccessful candidates until Jane Ryder applies for the position.
Because she is intelligent and forthright, Sir Paul hires her and explains that she will now be living in the house before introducing Mrs. Kilbride, the cook and housekeeper.
He then goes on to divulge his claustrophobia and "terrific fear of the dark" despite his blindness, and asks that the lights be switched on at "exactly the same time as they would be in any normal house."
Jane begins to explore the mansion by herself, noting how much of the furniture is covered in white dust cloths, before stumbling upon a teddy bear with one eye.
After they finish writing, Sir Paul asks Jane to buy a puzzle of a specific painting as a favor which she agrees to do.
On one occasion, Jane reassures him and, upon her departure, the audience is shown another shot of the teddy bear followed by a painting of a young girl playing with a teddybear and the sound of children's laughter.
Because of her fear of Sir Paul, she responds positively to all of his questions, and she reads aloud what Jane has written in his book after he insists she do it for him.
Jane later escalates her campaign against him, and one day she leaves a suit of armour lying on the floor, and displaces several desks and a number of books.
She tells him that her late husband, Ralph, had once had an art exhibition at a prestigious gallery, where he had been severely criticized by Sir Paul.
However, when she returns to the house out of guilt, and because she lacks the capacity to kill someone, Jane discovers that Sir Paul has escaped from the closet.
In England, the filmmaker is a technician, this is different to a director, and I had a very funny letter at the beginning of the shooting, 'remember that this not a film of an auteur, (using the French word), we don't want that, we want a normal feature.'
[4] The Guardian also gave a poor review and only 2 out of 5 stars, describing it as "a silly story about a blind art critic".
[5] Perhaps the most scathing is a review from Time Out London which gave the film only 1 star, finding "Raul Ruiz's apologists have their work cut out for them.