The Wimbledon Stage

Leading French actor Amalric's second feature as director, which he adapted by him from a novel by Daniele del Giudice, sends his wife Balibar on an improvised search for the life of a writer, as recounted by friends and colleagues. The destination is Trieste, which is protrayed as provisional, ambiguous, meditative and 'other', like a mobile version of much contemporary photography, emphasising the quiet and transitional spaces. An unashamedly European picture of ideas and mood, it's a beautiful, open and enigmatic fable, and it's puzzling title finds an anchorage of sorts in the final London scenes, which significantly echoes Blow-Up in its use of absence as the often strongest form of presence.