The Plot

Katy is a 30-something journalist working for a weekend magazine, en route to Paris to interview the famous, eccentric and mysterious classical pianist Silvia de Zingaro. On the Eurostar she bumps into Nick – a trendy, slightly younger photographer who just happens to be travelling to work on the same job.

Much to their dismay, it soon transpires that Silvia has left Paris for her isolated holiday home near the Alps. Despite the disruption to their schedule, the pair decide to meet her at the new location, hungry for a scoop with the ageing artist.

France

Here they are met by the evasive Denis, Silvia’s manager, who informs Katy that she is not to ask questions of Silvia’s personal life, much to the frustration of the story-hungry journalist, looking to delve deeper into the mind of her idol.

With no phone signal, no WiFi, an increasingly difficult and evasive interviewee – not to mention the howling wolves surrounding the country house – things slowly begin to turn from the mundane to the bizarre.

Why did Silvia storm off stage at her last concert after a fan’s phone went off? And why has she not played since? What of her marriage to the late František Zelezny? Are Denis and herself now an item?

Not giving anything away, an angered Silvia retires to bed – leaving Katy with an unsatisfactory interview and Nick with badly-lit snaps.

An unexpected stay

As the rain pours down outside, the duo is forced to stay the night at the eerie cottage after missing the last train to the airport.

It is when Katy sleeps, that things seemingly spiral into the supernatural. In the middle of the night, the clock stops. Silvia begins playing The Second Crooked Dance by the equally eccentric composer Erik Satie. Katy then wakes up, startled, to see Silvia in the room with her.

Spoilers ahead...

What follows is an intense and revealing conversation between the two of them. Silvia reveals that she is, in fact, not all that she appears; revealing her marriage to Zelezny was a sham, and telling stories of Satie, magic and the occult.

Silvia persuades the terrified Katy to play The Last Crooked Dance on the piano. A piece, she claims, that if played correctly can stretch ‘physiological time’...