Smart move casting Matt Smith as Christopher Isherwood in this glossy account of the gay author’s formative years in pre-war Berlin what with the “Dr. Who” star’s growing queer fanbase, although rumor has it the BBC put a stop to any appearance of the Time Lord’s naked rear end. He does have one very athletic sex scene, but the film is fairly tame considering Isherwood’s fondness for the city’s rough trade and the fact that his real-life exploits inspired the musical “Cabaret.”

The film does give Smith a chance to flex his acting muscles away from his increasingly ADHD-afflicted-English-boffin-on-speed turn as The Doctor and the production meticulously recreates a time in Berlin when long Nazi shadows were starting to cast themselves over the city’s wild hedonism.