Taormina

Vacationing in Sicily in an attempt to resuscitate their doomed marriage, a hapless couple soon fall under suspicion for a horrific crime in this razor-sharp noir about migration, police corruption, and the self-absorption of the middle class.

Unhappy couple Melvil and Luisa are on holiday in Sicily in a last-ditch effort to save their broken marriage, but one wrong turn off the highway leaves them stranded in a thunderstorm in the middle of nowhere. The road is muddy, it’s late, they hit something indeterminate in the dark.

The next day, the local newspaper reports that a child from a refugee camp was hit by a car and fatally injured. Melvil and Luisa hasten to find a garage in Taormina to repair their rental, but the repairs are costlier than expected, the police are sniffing around, tensions between the couple are rising, and soon their money will run out…

An elegantly laconic modern noir, brimming with the darkest of dark humor, Taormina presents a keen-eyed commentary on migration, police corruption, and the mediocrity and self-absorption of the middle class in a stunning translation by Alyson Waters.