At the centre of the story is Lee’s affair with Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), based on Burroughs’ lover, Lewis Marker. He is young and so clean-cut he seems to shine with health and happiness in contrast to Lee’s state of nervy disorder. Nonetheless, after a lot of wheedling, Lee manages to get him into bed, and a series of sweaty sex sequences result.

For a while, it looks as if this decidedly one-sided relationship is going to dominate the rest of the film as Lee humiliates himself with exaggerated expressions of his adoration, while Allerton delights in playing the tease.

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But the mood changes when Lee abruptly decides he’s taking off to South America in search of ayahuasca, a plant known for its hallucinogenic properties. Allerton is bribed to go with him, and eventually, deep in the Amazon, they find both the plant and Lesley Manville as a deranged doctor who’s been sampling too much of the stuff. Equipped with blackened teeth, a head of wild grey hair and a maniacal laugh, she wastes no time in tipping the whole film over into farce.

Craig, however, is mesmerising, drawing a complex portrait of a needy obsessive who’s become a victim of his instincts and impulses without any idea of what he really wants to do or where he wants to go. Every passing doubt is written on his face. There is only one flaw. He can’t make you care.