It's a fantastic film, worthy of being called a classic, and with some of the most mesmerising imagery ever captured on film. And I don't even have an issue with the narration (which both fits the character and the tone of the film, and ties things together very smoothly), or the way that the film gets too distracted by pretty imagery to focus on the simple but basically well-told plot. Even the anticlimactic ending works - it shows that, even if the film is over, life still goes on.

...but there's still something missing, something I can't quite put my finger on, that stops this from becoming one of my absolute all-time favourites. Part of me wonders if the film being unfocused and distracted by the scenery actually does bother me more than I consciously think it does.

Ultimately, it's a film that I mainly appreciate on an atmospheric level, and goddamn does it work on that level; it's only 90 minutes, but I spent absolutely ages watching it because I spent every minute or so pausing just to get a good look at what was on screen. If they gave an award for Best Cinematography Ever, Almendros and Wexler would be serious contenders for it.