Movie Review - I Am Love

I Am Love (Io sono l'amore) (2010)

Starring Tilda Swinton, Flavio Parenti, Edoardo Gabbriellini, and Pippo Delbono

Directed by Luca Guadagnino
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

The Italian flick I Am Love is a film that, should I ever watch it again, I know I would appreciate infinitely more than I did the first time around.  In this initial viewing, I was often at a loss as to where the film was going.  Yes, the characters were appealing and quite well-developed.  Yes, the film looks stunning and has a beautiful musical score.  But it just seemed to be meandering about for a good chunk of the time.  However, come the end of the film, I can't help but think that every scene set up some type of character motivation.  The little nuances that had me going "huh" actually fully fleshed out the film's inhabitants.  Unfortunately, for a good chunk of the film, however, the "huh" was playing a much bigger role in my mind than anything else.

The talented Tilda Swinton is Emma, a Russian who married into the wealthy Recchi clan over two decades ago.  The family, whose wealth was amassed via making clothing, is seeing a bit of upheaval with the patriarch passing away and leaving his company to his son Tancredi (Pippo Delbono) and his grandson Edo (Flavio Parenti).  As the two men get used running the company, Emma finds herself realizing that she doesn't quite fit in with the family even after all these years.  One evening while Edo is hosting a party, Emma meets Edo's friend Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini), a chef who is catering the soiree.  Almost immediately, Emma sees something in Antonio that sparks her interest and soon the two are carrying on a sordid (and certainly sexy) affair.  

Swinton (who won the coveted RyMickey Award for Best Actress last year for her role in the criminally underseen film Julia) plays Emma's sexual awakening with surprising believability.  After her first sexual encounter with the young Antonio, she scurries home like a young teen, giggling and smiling the whole way.  Some may say there's a coldness to a lot of Tilda Swinton's performances, but to me, she plays her characters in a guarded fashion that she lets down at just the right moment to reel the audience in to whatever her character's plight may be.  She may look like Conan O'Brien with breasts, but Swinton is simply fascinating to watch onscreen.  She's surrounded by a talented cast of Italian actors as well.  Although no one who reads this blog will probably have heard of any of them, they are proved to be quite interesting to watch.

As I mentioned above, it takes quite a long time for things to get moving in I Am Love, but the whole time I was intrigued by director Luca Guadagnino's stylish visuals.  I'm not going to pretend that I know a thing about classic Italian film, but this modern day film looked like it could have been filmed in 1965 with just a few minor alterations.  Everything from the costumes to the sets to the actual way Guadagnino shot scenes seemed like it was an homage to classic films he loved (including a rather seductive outdoor sex scene that showed just enough to titillate that really seemed reminiscent of something one would see in a classic foreign film from decades ago).  Admittedly, as is the case with the story itself, the visuals are rather odd to begin with.  Honestly, for the first thirty minutes I was seriously unable to determine whether the film was taking place now or forty years ago.  Still, the whole style grew on me (much like the film as a whole) as everything progressed.

I Am Love is certainly an interesting film, but it's definitely not going to appeal to all.  As I found myself writing this review, I actually found myself enjoying it more the more I thought about it...always a good thing.  Like I mentioned, I can't help but think that this is a film that will shine on a second viewing a few years down the line.

The RyMickey Rating:  B