Villa Amalia

Villa Amalia portrays a woman betrayed, who leaves everything behind, sells, burns and flees. She finds an island — Ischia —, a villa — Amalia — and solitude, which together form her new idea of happiness, embodied by the Mediterranean landscape and the small house perched on the cliffside.

An admirable book, adapted three years after its publication by Benoît Jacquot. Villa Amalia marked the fifth collaboration between actress Isabelle Huppert and the director, with whom she “loves working infinitely (…), attentive to actors in general and to the actress that I am in particular. (…) Benoît Jacquot is, along with Chabrol and Haneke, one of those directors to whom I say “yes” without even needing to read a script, because I know they offer me the possibility of being fully myself while making my film within theirs.” The result is arguably Benoît Jacquot’s finest film.