Manipulation opens with Matteo, played by Radoslav Gavlas, joining a secret society based in Prague. Led by the Master (Pawel Lawrynowicz), the group blackmails influential people and collects information to build its power. Matteo is ordered to infiltrate the Catholic Church, though the reason for the mission remains unclear.
A crisis of conscience follows when Matteo sees his father, a member of the society played by Predrag Bjelac, threaten the children of a defector. Later sent to Bologna, he meets a professor (Pavel Kriz) who describes the dangers of secret cabals. The professor suspects the Master is pursuing alchemical knowledge associated with Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II.
The plot weaves together the society’s espionage, the Church’s counter-espionage and a newspaper’s attempts to expose the story. Matteo also becomes involved with Anna (Anna Ctvrtníčková), whose father, a church librarian played by Féodor Atkine, was removed from a council after warning its members about a priest accused of double-dealing (Heino Ferch).
The review describes the film’s conspiracy as dense but vague, with a crowded cast, implausible turns and dialogue that often feels forced. It notes that Balda gives the film a brooding visual style and that the accumulating twists eventually add some momentum, but finds the overall story difficult to make sense of.
Sources: The Guardian Film.