Pompeii: Sin City

Where is Mary Beard when you need her? I’m sure she’d have something to say about the curious sequences here where comely young actors in modern dress disport themselves in a woodland glade re-creating classical myths (the young woman caressing a swan is particularly disconcerting).

Mainly, though, we have Isabella Rossellini declaiming the story of ancient Pompeiian frescos, with their heady mix of sex, violence, myth and superstition, as she wanders around the site, rarely looking at the camera but striking suitably patrician poses. A range of academics, curiously lit, offer sensible views on Roman society, and the photography is stunning, but it’s all just a little too creative.