Literary scholar Alithea Binnie, a loner since early childhood, once had an imaginary friend named Enzo and occasionally hallucinates fantasy figures. Despite a failed marriage, she is largely content with her life. When Alithea’s enthusiasm for myths and fairy tales leads her to give a lecture in Istanbul, she buys a small glass bottle as a souvenir at a Turkish bazaar. In her hotel room, she cleans the souvenir, whereupon a giant jinn appears to her. In exchange for his freedom, he wants to grant her three heart’s desires, but Alithea only knows stories about wishing, which are also a warning against this very thing. When Alithea says that she is happy and does not want to express a single wish, the jinn tells her the story of his life and how he came to be in the glass bottle.
This top-class film with Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba tells the well-known „genie in the bottle“ story in a modern way with a lot of charm and humour. An interesting, adventurous feelgood film that one should watch.