An assassin flees into the countryside to escape the authorities; a judge searches for the truth behind a strange story of furniture, cows, olive trees and genius for an evil man; ordinary people live in ordinary buildings, and a dog comes into their lives. An almost familiar story of Scheherazade, who tells a merciless king a series of stories to make sure she will survive another day.

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In comparison to Michel Gomes’ Arabian Nights: Volume 1 - The Restless One, an incredibly mad and fierce film, Volume 2 doesn’t meet the benchmark. Less dense, less grand, less exciting, it is an imperfect and awkward stop within this trilogy where The Restless One was astonishing and unclassifiable. It is less controlled and more didactic and gets bogged down in three unequal stories (a boring chase, a weird trial and a building full of bland people) that don’t really come together. It will be up to the third installment to make the audience understand, if possible, the thinking and ambition behind a trilogy that is so far both wonderful and ridiculous.