The counterfeit premise: a boating party embarks from Sicily, safe beneath the transparent warmth of the Mediterranean sun, coordinates set on a daylight cruise around the Tyrrhenian Sea; the crime occurs out of nowhere, ex nihilo, after which the survivors wander aimlessly between the rocky Aeolian Islands, where the old world of reality has suddenly come undone.

There are few accolades that have not already been lavished on Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura (1960), the first entry in the director’s so-called Eros trilogy.