Directed by Hal Hartley. Produced by Ted Hope. Original music by Hal Hartley and Jeffrey Taylor. Edited by Steve Hamilton. With Martin Donovan, Isabelle Huppert, Elina Löwensohn.

Coming off the heels of watching this year’s “Fay Grim” at the International Film Festival of Boston, I already had some idea of what a Hal Hartley film would entail. His cocktails usually involve a recipe of lovely European woman in danger (preferably wearing black vinyl or latex), off-beat dialogue, dark humor, and an anti-hero caught up in some brand of mysterious espionage. Those were the ingredients to “Fay Grim” as well as 1994’s “Amateur”. The story opens with said anti-hero Thomas Ludens (Martin Donovan) on the floor of a street somewhere in downtown Manhattan. He’s been pushed out a window and has lost his memory. The culprit is the fetching Sofia (Elena Löwensohn) who we see dashing off in the distance believing the man dead. He ends up in the arms of a nymphomaniac nun-turned-pornographer, Isabelle (played by Isabelle Huppert) and the rest of the film takes us on a journey as the two protagonists try to discover why the beautiful Sofia pushed Thomas out a window. Isabelle, who believes she is on a mission from God to reconnect the two, gradually begins to fall in love with the amnesiac Thomas – who we soon find out is embroiled in a dangerous scheme involving the government (”which one?” “it could be any”) and pornography. Suffice it to say that there are enough foreign accents speaking stilted bits of dialogue to satisfy any auteur aficionado. Though I found some of the acting a bit forced (Martin Donovan comes off as a nugatory composite of Kiefer Sutherland and James Spader), the two damsels are the real centerpiece here, as little can compare to the sight of Isabelle Huppert in heels, yielding a tool drill as a pistol in all earnesty. Also worth a mention is the carefully selected soundtrack, which features artists like My Bloody Valentine, P.J. Harvey, Pavement, Yo La Tengo, and Liz Phair in top Nineties form.