Louis Empain, a Belgian philanthropist, conceived Villa Empain as a private home. After its completion in 1934, he donated the property to the state. Since then, it has served as a Soviet embassy, a TV studio, etc. Only since 2008 does it fulfill its original destination: a haven for art.

Some places are haunted not by ghosts, but by history. Katharina Kastner has found one: Baron Empain’s extraordinary 1934 mansion, a marvel of period design that has seen ruin and revival. With the elegance of Resnais and Raúl Ruiz, this beguiling poem of a film conjures the magic of its existence.