I'd bet a lot that viewers of "Fade" would be hard-pressed to identify its source topic, fatal familial insomnia, without visiting the official Web site. (It may be cheating, but that's what I did.)

Lead character Arthur can't get any sleep, and the late David Connolly did an uncomfortably accurate job conveying the physical and mental deterioration of the exhausted. What's not apparent, however, is whether his sleep problems are real or just manifestations of marital breakdown. The latter was my guess based on visits by his wife, Anna (Sarah Lassez), to a priest for discussions of domestic unhappiness (she can't recall their wedding day) and the unspecified new direction her life's taking.

Arthur provides some overly mannered narration via a journal he's been keeping, but that also offers few clues to how much of what we're seeing is real or imagined. When Michael T. Weiss ("The Pretender") and Steven Petrarca appear as improbably inept doctors, the illusion of unreality is complete. By the time a diagnosis was reached, I'd lost all trust in the truth of what I was seeing. Writer/director Anthony Stagliano did his cast few favors with this overly ambiguous tale.

Running time: 1:14. Opens May 2 at Facets Cinematheque.

No MPAA rating; parents cautioned for sexuality, violence.

--Maureen M. Hart