Review of Villa Amalia (2009) by Mike M — 25 Jun 2010

Two avenues of approaching "Villa Amalia" soon present themselves. The first is as a greatest-hits package for Huppertphiles: here's the star of "The Piano Teacher" back at the keyboard! Here she is being all eccentric and/or mysterious! The second is as a conventional getaway fantasy, albeit one laced with curious atonal notes: anyone expecting leisurely, "Letters to Juliet"-like escapism should be warned it's a good hour of the protagonist struggling to shrug off her worldly possessions before the Italian sun comes out - and even then Ann-Eliane cramps up while swimming.

Tapping into the common contemporary desire to start again from scratch, it allows Huppert to shed layers and shift between identities with her usual skill, but you'd probably need Pascal Quignard's source novel on hand to make complete sense of a heroine who remains much like the titular property: boarded up and remote.