Mature and visually graceful, this period romance stands among the first and most compassionate openly gay-themed films the cinema has produced. Dreyer adapts Herman Bang's 1902 novel, recasting the ancient Greek tale of Jupiter and Ganymede as a love triangle between Zoret, an ageing artist; Michael, his protagonist; and the aristocratic femme fatale Princess Zamikoff, who falls under the spell of Michael's youthful looks just as completely as Zoret has.