Young Dutch architect Meneer Chrome comes to a remote English estate where Thomas Smithers lives with his wife, Juliana. Smithers is determined to leave as his legacy a fabulous garden, to be carved from a wild patch of land beside his home. Chrome receives written instructions from his unseen master via a secretary, and the master is Juliana's cousin, Fitzmaurice, who had romance with Juliana when they were young and plans to make Thomas bankrupt via setting up extravagant garden and to make Juliana come back to him.

The Serpent's Kiss will probably be well received by fans of Peter Greenaway's arch and ornate films (The Draughtsman's Contract, Drowning By Numbers for example). In this movie, a young Dutch landscape artist named Chrome (Ewan MacGregor) is hired by homely but rich landowner Smithers (Pete Postlethwaite) to turn his overgrown estate into a masterpiece of topiary and hedge-mazes. But unbeknown to Smithers, Chrome is fulfilling the will of Smithers' ardent enemy (Richard E Grant), who hopes to bankrupt the wealthy man and seduce his beautiful wife (Greta Scacchi). When Chrome falls under the spell of Smithers' enigmatic daughter, all plans go awry. The strong cast wallows entertainingly in this mix of jealousy, decadence, intriguing visuals, Machiavellian schemes, and heaving bosoms, with Grant performing with his usual lurid gusto. The sumptuous Restoration-era costumes enhance this meditation on art versus nature. --Bret Fetzer

Nominated:Golden Palm