Old Hollywood liked to own its stars. The studios shaped their property. In The Congress, Robin Wright, playing an actress of the same name, star of The Princess Bride and Forrest Gump, but now struggling to get a part, allows the studios to take this one step further. They only want the Robin Wright of 20 years ago, so she lets herself be scanned and, for a fee, hands over control of her virtual alter ego. Now they can plonk a younger, more pliable "Robin Wright" into whatever old rubbish they want to make.

Ari Folman, who wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated Waltz With Bashir, divides his film between live action and animation. The Congress is bulging with ideas but its attack on our attitudes towards celebrity and nostalgia is soft. Wright gives a nuanced performance as a woman aged out of her industry and there's a touching performance from Harvey Keitel as her loyal agent. But when we enter Robin's virtual world, an animated dreamscape of surrealist imagery that's as garish as Yellow Submarine and about as deep, the Hollywood satire dissipates. Folman uses the live action half of his film to champion real acting over motion capture; it's almost fitting that The Congress loses our interest as soon as it drifts into the ethereal.