I actually find it useful to have the Model represented by a single object, usually a facade that coordinates all the other Model objects.

Not sure why this would lead to anemic models, which I completely agree are a common anti-pattern.

In fact, to me it seems rather the opposite would be true: having the single object facade facilitates having a complex model that coordinates all the different pieces to represent a unified view of said model to the views, which can then be very simple and transparent.

In turn, when the models were coupled with views individually, that has tended to lead to exactly that View → DB Table mapping of dumb data objects you rightly criticize.