La criatura del deseo

Synopsis of La criatura del deseo

Based on real people and events, Andrea Camilleri reconstructs the tumultuous relationship between Alma Mahler and Oskar Kokoschka. In 1912, a year after the death of Gustav Mahler, Alma, his young widow, met the painter Oskar Kokoschka. Thus begins their love story, which will soon lead to a passion as unbridled as it is tumultuous. But when Alma brutally breaks off the relationship, Kokoschka, heartbroken, decides to go to the front. Upon his return, traumatized by the conflict and still obsessed with lost love, he commissions a life-size doll with the features of his beloved. From biographical writings, letters and other unpublished materials, Andrea Camilleri reconstructs not only the shocking story of an unbridled love passion, in which artistic genius and mental illness struggle, but also a crucial era for the destiny of Europe.