Isabelle Huppert can do no wrong. Villa Amalia is the perfect example of how following a woman on a lonely and dialogue-free journey through random French towns, the Alps and eventually the Meditterranean towards an Italian island, can be utterly compelling when an actress such as Huppert takes the lead. In any other actress' hands, the role could have been wispier than a dull mist, but this is Huppert's film, and we are drawn into her world slowly but surely as she rediscovers herself. Mark Kermode hilariously called it "Shirley Valentine with an A-level", although not to be denigrating. Both films are excellent, in very different ways.