Isn’t it wonderful that in America, or at least those parts where a demotic lingo still rules, the words “hostel” and “hostile” are pronounced the same way? Two antonyms, for hospitality and hatred, are joined by a mischievous assonance. Nothing better encapsulates the ambivalence with which US movies have looked at Europe for 100 years, or the edgier-than-ever blend of love and hate with which they regard it today.

Think of The Good German. Think of Hostel I.and II Think of The Illusionist and The Prestige (Europeans as sinister conjurors and necromancers). Think of Matt Damon, a one-man envoy for conflicted US/EU entente, roaming Europe as the talented Mr Ripley or the multi-talented Mr Bourne. And think of Hollywood’s latest venture into Europe, which tops everything off as a tale of New World innocence ambushed in the Old.