Cold Souls
(Sophie Barthes): Paul Giamatti, Dina Korzun, Emily Watson, David Strathairn.
Running time: 101 minutes (12A)
Rating: 3/5

Cold Souls, the debut comedy film from writer/director Sophie Barthes, might well have been called Being Charlie Kaufman, such are its borrowed conceits. Paul Giamatti stars as a fictionalised version of himself – a neurotic, distressed actor who is becoming too involved in the roles he portrays. The solution? A clinic, run by David Strathairn's Dr Flintstein, which extracts his soul (turns out it is a chickpea) with wacky gizmos, much too similar to the workings of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Complications arise when Giamatti realises that not only is his soul the key to his work, but the Russians are at it too, and soul smuggler Nina (Dina Korzun, icier than the Bering Strait) sells his soul to a wannabe Russian actress. Cold Souls lacks the sheer off-the-wall originality of a Kaufman film. Nor does Barthes seem able to roll this forward till it accumulates metaphysical weight. Still, there is something to savour: Giamatti offers an acting masterclass – the moment where he rehearses Uncle Vanya without his soul is golden. The comedy bubbles gently while Barthes adds a sophisticated polish.