RATHER like your granddad reminiscing about the war, The Kreutzer Sonata is fascinating yet monotonous.

Based on the Tolstoy story of the same name, the film is an explicit study of a husband’s jealousy that ultimately suffers from only focusing on his developing paranoia.

The director-actor team of Bernard Rose and Danny Huston, who found success with Tolstoy adaptation Ivansxtc, reunite to transfer the great Russian writer’s 1889 story to modern Los Angeles.

Huston plays Edgar, a wealthy early middle-aged man whose worldly charm and frankness attracts classical pianist Abby (Elizabeth Rohm) despite her already being in a relationship.

Their sexually-charged affair leads to marriage, and Abby gives up her music career to take care of their two children, leaving her discontent and frustrated with her loss of independence.

To appease her, Edgar organises a benefit concert via his charitable foundation and persuades her to play Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata to the rich private audience.

This means she spends long hours practicing with violinist Aiden (Matthew Yang King), and Edgar instantly conceives a fanatical jealousy.

Edgar’s jealousy is born just as much from his own insecurity as the knowledge Abby cheated on her former boyfriend to be with him.

But his vanity compels him to encourage Abby to be alone with Aiden, to prove to himself he is not threatened, and he is also carnally aroused by the idea of being cuckolded.

Abby is totally innocent and therefore finds Edgar’s jealousy infuriating, but she insists on maintaining her friendship with Aiden to prove to herself she is not controlled by her husband.

Huston gives a gripping performance, conveying the cyclone of jealousy, twisted desire and vanity inside Edgar’s mind, which ultimately leads to tragedy.

And director Rose fashions excruciating tension out of this downward spiral, raising the suspense to boiling point in a shocking climax.

However, at times the film drags, and this is due to its insistence on focusing purely on Edgar’s unravelling.

If the plot allowed more time to develop Abby and Aiden as characters, Edgar’s breakdown could have been shown more concisely; as he is the sole focus, his descent is stretched out and becomes monotonous.

The underlying problem seems to be that Tolstoy’s story, a novella, does not have enough material to fill a feature-length film.

As a result, The Kreutzer Sonata, as a film, has a fascinating central idea but too much time to narrate it; this excellent story would have been better served by a shorter running time.

The Kreutzer Sonata is released on DVD on April 26