I was amused and entertained. Taken, very taken by how seriously it takes itself but I don't mean that in an patronizing way. For those people the subject treated is of paramount importance. The past and the future mingling in a world where profit commands. The young son, a stunning, Flavio Parenti, is the one attached to the old traditions. A rich capitalist with a socialist sensibility. Tilda Swinton runs the gamut of emotions and she does it beautifully. Details are terribly important here and, I must confess, I thought of Visconti, specially because Violante Visconte di Modrone is part of the cast. Who is Mr Guadagnino, the director? Where does he come from? He seems incredibly sure of himself. Costumes, interiors, landscapes are a visual feast. The score is also a very bold touch. Marisa Berenson (Barry Lyndon) and Gabriele Ferzzetti (L'Avventura) are added pleasures to this unexpected, if sometimes irritating, treat.
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ferguson-628 June 2010Greetings again from the darkness. A really good film from writer/director Luca Guadagnino and a terrific performance from Tilda Swinton. The film centers on power and family and trust and self-discovery ... and the complexities of each.
As a young, working class Russian, Emma (Tilda Swinton) is whisked away to marriage and life in the aristocracy of Milan. She dutifully raises her kids and organizes huge dinners and parties at their mansion as the Rechhi's entertain business clients and their own family. It is during these parties that we realize Emma is technically part of the family, but really is still an outsider. She escapes to her own space once the events are running smoothly.
Being an avid cook herself, she easily clicks with a brilliant young chef introduced to the family by her own son. Very little doubt where it's headed at this point as Emma unleashes the pent up energy she has been forced to hide. While we are very aware that the upper crust has learned to look the other way with infidelity, that's not the case with the Rechhi's and their Russian wife/mother.
The brilliance in the film is that it shows how the younger generation doesn't really fit any better than Emma. The difference is that they are part of the fabric and will be allowed more rope than an outsider. Still it is painful to watch Emma and her son, who can't quite adapt to the family business. Better yet, to watch her with her daughter, who confesses her preference for other women. Emma sees herself in these two, but doesn't have the same freedom. Her best ally is the caretaker who seems to understand the multiple levels on which this family functions.
Fascinating interactions and complex writing make this a film for film lovers. There is so little dialogue, but so much is said with a glance or head nod. Many U.S. writers could learn a thing or two. Must also mention the startling score by John Adams. It is quite operatic, which plays along with the themes of the film. -
howard.schumann1 August 2010Attempting to revive the golden age of Italian cinema that featured such greats as Rossellini, Fellini, Visconti, Pasolini, and others, Luca Guadagnino has fashioned a sumptuous, elegant, and physically beautiful film called I Am Love or in its Italian title Lo Sono Amore. Unfortunately, while the film has moments of emotional power, it fails to coalesce into a satisfying whole and ends up feeling more pretentious than penetrating.
Written by Barbara Alberti, Ivan Cotroneo, Walter Fasano and Guadagnino and based on a story by the director, the film begins in snowy Milan in the winter. The very wealthy Recchi family, owners of a textile factory that it is hinted supported Musolini and the Fascists during the war, is having a dinner party in their aristocratic house catered by a host of servants wearing white gloves. The elderly grandfather and patriarch of the family Edoardo Sr. (Gabrielle Ferzetti) is about to retire, evoking the Visconti film, The Leopard. Shockwaves roll throughout the gathering, however, when he names both his son Tancredi (Pippo Delbono) and his handsome grandson Edo (Flavio Parenti) as joint controllers of the business. Befitting the family's pride, when Edo tells the group that he has come in second in a race, the elderly patriarch says "The Recchis never lose." The Russian born Emma (Tilda Swinton) is Tancredi's wife and mother of three grown children, sons Edo and Gianluca (Mattia Zacarro), and artist and photographer daughter Betta (Alba Rohrwacher). Though on the surface she is a loyal and supporting wife and mother and has made a complete adjustment to the Italian bourgeois way of life, underneath there is a growing boredom and discontent as sensed by her servant Ida (Maria Paiato). We get a hint of this stirring when daughter Betta reveals to her that she is a Lesbian and is in love with a fellow classmate in England. The longing for adventure crystallizes further when she meets Edo's friend Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini) who is a master chef who is planning to open a restaurant with Edo.
Joining her mother-in-law Allegra (Marisa Berenson) and Edo's girl friend Eva (Diane Fleri) for lunch, Emma's senses are fully awakened while eating prawns prepared by Antonio. Passing through San Remo on a trip to Nice to attend an exhibition to which she has been invited by daughter Betta, Emma unexpectedly bumps into Antonio who eagerly invites her to view the restaurant site. Despite the fact that Antonio is probably 10 to 15 years younger than her, this chance encounter leads to a bursting forth of Emma's tightly controlled sexual inhibitions and a swirl of passionate lovemaking in the rustic countryside, their engaged body parts mirrored by close-up shots of flowers and insects in a very poetic but overly aestheticized manner.
Reminiscent of Ibsen's 1879 play The Doll's House, the main thrust of the film is the repression of an upper class woman who suddenly discovers that there should be more zest to her life, presumably triggered by her daughter's openness in discussing her sexual preference. The love affair, however, triggers many changes in the Recchi family, both economically and psychologically. Tancredi is forced to sell their business to an Indian investor who explains that "capitalism is democracy". The scenes in London with the financiers are very strong but are treated as a minor sub-plot with the emphasis quickly given over to the family's psychological distress.
When Edo puts two and two together and realizes his mother's sexual adventures with his best friend, the result is tragedy for the entire family, a series of events handled by the director in an involving but melodramatic fashion. Though Emma has been praised by some for the courage she shows in breaking away from a static marriage, one wonders if a greater courage would perhaps have been shown if she had gotten in touch with the love she once had for her husband, fulfilled her solemn oath, "till death do us part", and resumed her responsibilities as a caring mother. While I was moved by much of the visual beauty of the film and the idea of breaking with tradition and listening to the voices within, I was infrequently emotionally involved with the characters and I Am Love felt distant and often contrived. -
susannah-straughan-127 April 2010The poster for Luca Guadagnino's film shows a regal Tilda Swinton in an eye-catching red dress surrounded by her sober-looking family. In another version, the frock has undergone a cheeky digital makeover to a shocking pink that matches the movie's bold, declaratory title. The symbolism might seem a little obvious, but this is a story in which one woman's passion comes bursting to the surface – with tragic consequences.
"Something part palace, part prison, part museum" is how star and producer Swinton envisaged the house at the centre of this contemporary drama about the Recchis, a wealthy Milanese family. Opening with a series of almost monochrome shots of a snowbound Milan, Guadagnino closes in on the elegant but forbidding 1930s mansion, where Russian-born Emma (Swinton) and her husband Tancredi (Pippo Delbono) are preparing to host a dinner party.
On the surface, Emma is an attractive middle-aged woman, perfectly at ease with her three grown-up children and comfortable within the sumptuous trappings of Italian society. Guadagnino and cinematographer Yorick Le Saux linger over the chandeliers, wall hangings and gleaming napery that indicate decades of affluent living. But as the white-gloved lackeys hover over the birthday celebrations of ageing patriarch Edoardo, we sense that something – or someone – is about to shatter the family's much-prized unity.
Soon there is an announcement about the future of the family textile business, but it isn't the defining event of this opening set piece. Guadagnino's interest lies not in soap opera-style financial wrangling, but in how two of Emma's children unwittingly lead her towards a personal epiphany. First her daughter Betta (Alba Rohrwacher), a talented artist, causes a minor ripple by declaring that she's now more interested in pursuing photography. Emma's subsequent discovery of a heartfelt note inside a CD box reveals that Betta has fallen deeply in love – with a girl.
During the meal, a young man turns up looking for Emma's son Edo (Flavio Parenti). He awkwardly refuses to join the party, but it's clear that Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini) a handsome and supremely talented chef, has struck a chord with the lady of the house. So, as Edo eagerly makes plans to open a restaurant with his friend, Emma is drawn into a high-risk affair.
The power of Swinton's performance lies not in her mastery of Italian dialogue but in her gradual, unspoken surrender to passion, over the dictates of convention. This is a film in which speeches are, for the most part, far less important than the sense of underlying tension generated by John Adams's operatic score and Le Saux's restless camera work. Late in the film there's a sinuous tracking shot that follows Emma's impulsive descent to the basement kitchen for a stolen moment with her lover.
Guadagnino's willingness to take risks in the pursuit of what Swinton has called "pure cinema" is what distinguishes this film from other stories of forbidden love involving ladies who are old enough to know better. Epicureans will experience as frisson as Emma is seduced by Antonio's lovingly prepared prawn dish. The lingering shots of those seductive crustaceans could have been ridiculous, but they're another small and believable step in Emma's awakening to the possibility of a new love. When the action moves to the glorious countryside around San Remo, Emma allows Antonio to cut her hair, in an apparent nod to her daughter's recent change of style. Her rebellion reaches a crescendo in the extraordinary al fresco sex scene, shot in huge close ups to the accompaniment of teeming insect life that threatens to drown out everything else.
Guadagnino and Swinton first worked together on The Protagonists (1999) and this latest collaboration evolved over a period of nearly 11 years. It's too early to say whether they can be measured against some of their inspirations –Tolstoy, Flaubert , Hitchcock and Visconti – but there is much to admire in this stylish and well-acted drama.
There are faults: some of the camera placements are too artily self-conscious and Emma's interactions with her husband and children often feel rather perfunctory. Unlike Visconti's The Leopard, this isn't an in-depth exploration of family dynamics buckling under the forces of history. But neither the director nor the star can be accused of timidity in the way they embrace the protagonist's headlong rush towards her destiny. And even the Master of Suspense would have applauded the shocking climax of a confrontation in the garden, which made me jump out of my seat. -
'I Am Love' is the most over-reviewed movie since 'There Must Be Blood', which is really saying something. It's one of those movies in which the motives of the main characters are just sort of - assumed. Tilda Swinton is the wife of a rich industrialist, so it stands to reason that she is bored and unhappy. Thus the director/scriptwriter spares himself the inconvenience of any exposition that shows her actually BEING bored and unhappy. Indeed, the ONLY reminiscence she supplies about her husband is rather warm and fuzzy.
There actually isn't any motivation for anyone, which is a little disappointing, since the pace of the movie is about as fast as glacial movement. The photography is lush and opulent, and the score by John Adams is very interesting (not always appropriate to the setting).
The movie, in short, is a fiasco. -
During the past decade, Tilda Swinton has proved herself to be a very adept actress. I've never heard of Luca Guadagnino, but their collaboration "Io sono l'amore" ("I Am Love" in English) presents an interesting and slightly chilling look at a wealthy Italian family.
The focus is the fictional Recchi clan in Milan, and Emma (Swinton) is a Russian woman who married into the family and pretty much turned her back on her Slavic identity. Her husband Tancredi (Pippo Delbono) is the son of industrialist Edoardo (Gabrielle Ferzetti), for whom a party is thrown where he announces that he is handing the business to his son.
By this point, it starts to become apparent that Emma's life feels incomplete. Maybe it's the weirdness of a life where one is always surrounded by extended family and getting waited on hand and foot - and how the extended family seems determined to organize all relationships - or maybe it's the surprise at learning of her daughter Elisabetta's (Alba Rohrwacher) lesbianism. But when Emma's son Edoardo Jr. (Flavio Parenti) introduces her to chef Antonio (Edoardo Gabriellini), who prepared the cake, this begins a new chapter in Emma's life.
Throughout the movie, it seemed that the food acted as a metaphor: Emma was starting to taste a whole side of her existence about which she'd never known. Maybe the food and other visuals were a little overstated throughout the movie, but I think that the end result was a good one. To be certain, there was a scene in the movie that made me feel as though I'd just stopped breathing - you'll know it when you see it - and I think that what Emma does at the end is the only thing that she could have done. I recommend the movie.
PS: Marisa Berenson, who plays Allegra, previously starred in "Death in Venice" and "Cabaret". She is the sister of actress Berry Berenson, who married "Psycho" star Anthony Perkins and was in one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. -
JoshuaDysart8 March 2010I can't describe the power of this film, and I can't stop thinking about it either. There's a negative review on here that says to go see MICHAEL CLAYTON instead and not to waste your time. Well, if a movie about plot, overly drawn characters and artifice, all shot by the book, is what you're looking for, then yes... this probably isn't the movie for you.
But if you like people more than stories. If you want to see film-making at its most graceful and organic and inventive, if you want a musical score that will turn a sidelong glance into an operatic overture, then this IS the movie for you. It is a baroque masterwork. A cathedral of a film. Cold as stone but inspiring the soul.
Tilda Swinton is a goddess. She says so little, but communicates so much. There's an entire ocean of emotion inside or her, spilling out of her eyes. I cried twice at this film. Once because of the subject matter and then again at the delicacy of the film-making. Don't let people with conservative tastes and conventional ideas of film and story tell you not to go see this movie. They are robbing you of experiencing pure emotive cinema. -
katmckee16 February 2019She is the wife of a rich industrialist in Milan who met her in Russia... she organizes dinner parties, but retires early, not so into the old family scene... I was disgusted with the trope of the family elder retiring and leaving the business to his son and grandson as a pronouncement that is handed down and obeyed. Boring. She is a great cook and appreciates food, and when Antonio, her son's chef friend, makes her prawns in his restaurant, she has a spiritual experience, and then she follows him to a town where his farm is, and he runs into her, and he takes her to the farm, and they kiss... then when all the family is out of town, she goes with him to the farm again for some days and they make love and cook and talk about her past. He asks about her life before coming to Italy. Is this supposed to show us he really cares for her? That doesn't convince me....
They bathe in nature, a stunning contrast to the earlier wide shots of the interiors of the rich family homes full of antiques, high ceilings and a lot of art on the walls. She goes from a stifling interior life in a rich family where she is in a certain station with a certain role, to running out of that life in the end, barefoot (she wore heels through the movie til then, usually) in a track suit.
I felt some disgust at her timing when she decides to leave the family home to be with Antonio... and the lack of mourning for her son who died when he hit his head retracting from her after he found out about her affair with Antonio. In that moment, he would not let her speak (oh brother - a super cheap trick to create tension).
Anyway, at the end, her son dies, she finds out and is just frozen, not crumpling on the floor in absolute loss and pain. I wondered if he was adopted? She loved him, I thought! And then next day she is still frozen, obsessed with running away. She was frozen when Antonio took her clothes off the first time. A bit inanimate. So next day when her other children are together mourning after the burial, she runs away. What? You abandon your children when they just lost the sweet emotional faithful brother? Her daughter the lesbian, gave her eye contact understanding and permission to walk out as she stood barefoot in the hallway. The husband had already told her, 'you don't exist' when she confessed in the cemetery that she loved Antonio.
I saw her as a love addict, not in love. These 2 lovers didn't know each other at all... and we didn't get to know them. They were 2 mystery characters attracted by the senses of food and sex and it seems like a connection that will fade easily because it's really a connection that carries her out of her frozen state to a more alive state of self determination... not a case of a strong bond with Antonio. And of course that is, in itself pretty awesome. I just wish we had more insight into Antonio and her in their personal journeys beyond food and sex chemistry. -
jomarbut10 August 2010This is a wonderful Italian film that is lush, sensual, beautiful, and operatic in tone. It has grand scale and little moments. It stars beautiful Tilda Swinton as Emma, dressed in Jill Sander couture with Hermes and Fendi bags.
She is a Russian woman married into the rich Italian Rechhi industrial family. She has two grown children, Eduardo and Betta. They all live in a grand villa, surrounded by gates with doormen, maids, footmen, and a housekeeper. Everything is so quiet, so lush, so graceful, so perfect, so in its place. She is the perfect mother, wife, housekeeper, the perfect embodiment of a rich Italian's wife. She knows and accepts the demands of the role of the fabric magnate's wife, and as the daughter-in-law to the elder Recchi patriarch and matriarch. She is smiling, gracious, beautiful and very taut and controlled without being cold.
But she does not have a real grasp on who she is. When asked how she came to Italy, she says that her father was an art restorer and her husband was visiting them and began dating her. When they married, he brought her to Italy, changed her name to Emma, and she took on her new persona. She cannot recall her Russian name; knows only that she was nicknamed Kitesh. (She's not suffering from amnesia.) She looks to others for their reactions to events as if to gage her reaction. She gazes carefully around her as if not a part of the gathering but apart from it.
She meets a friend of her son's, a young chef named Antonio and eats one day at his restaurant. Suddenly, emotions are awakened that may have been suppressed. She's drawn to the young chef. They have an affair. She changes her behavior, cuts her hair, cooks with him, spends time away with him at his remote mountain home, and shares a Russian recipe that she cooks for her son. When Eduardo discovers that Antonio is cooking his mother's recipe, he jumps to the ultimate conclusion which she does not deny. But the argument that follows leads to tragedy and the family's undoing. She tells her husband "You no longer know who I am" and flees when the affair is discovered as her husband has told her "You do not exist." And he may be right. She may not know herself well enough to exist on her own terms, only on those given to her by a man. How he defines her is how she defines herself. At the end of the film, two arguments can be made: she is either a woman suppressed, whose awakening came when she devoured the food and the young chef. Or, she is a woman who is a blank canvas, one of those women who change with each man they are with. She let her husband rename her; she took the Italian family traditions; she looks to her mother in law and father in law for approval; she has no opinions of her own; she is a dutiful wife, mother, daughter-in-law, etc. And then, with the young chef, she shares his love of food, of the remote mountain retreat; she lets him cut her hair; she dresses more casually; she will give up everything to be with him. She may be in love but she may have also taken on yet another persona.
The most intriguing part is Tilda Swinton, who is such a chameleon in all of her films. She embodies a part like no one can, acting as blank canvas, painting the character in subtle details. She is fearless in this role. She should be nominated and should win an Oscar and other awards. You have to watch her, those eyes, that mouth and jaw, the slight emotional changes that flit across her face and her reactions to events. Amazing. -
paul2001sw-19 January 2013The ever-versatile Tilda Swinton stars as a Russian-born Italian in Luca Guadagnino's film 'I am Love', which is beautifully filmed, well-observed and acted with a nice sense of understatement. Yet this tale of a wealthy family suffers somewhat from the basic irrelevance of its drama. Being happy is a challenge for everyone, even for the rich, but a story where the characters are essentially free to choose their own lives can feel slight, and although part of the point here is that the individuals concerned are prisoners of their own privilege, the point is made without any satirical venom - the tears of the servant, crying over the departure of her mistress at the end of the film, are shown without irony. Although there are details to enjoy here, I found it hard to sympathise with any of the characters over any of the others. It's not a bad film, but a social dimension to match its emotional one might have added to its impact.
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floatingpolarbear20 January 2016I am not a fan of deer in the headlights style acting and Tilda Swinton gives up a great deal of it in this movie. Look at me as I stare blank faced and wide eyed as things, life things are happening around me. If anything redeems this movie somewhat, it's the splendid locations; the gorgeous mansion, the city, etc. The story fails because it does not give us anything to strive for or push against except the malaise, boredom and passivity of the main character who is not very sympathetic. It is hard to root for her, in fact you kind of hope she absentmindedly walks into a door at some point, or miscalculates and shoves an olive up her nose instead of her mouth in the repeated fork journey from plate to face.
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Chris_Docker12 April 2010When have you felt most alone?
Milan. Winter. Upper-middle classes,Northern Italy. A dizzying array of people who all know each other and we don't.
Speaking about I Am Love, Tilda Swinton remarks, "Overcoming the idea of oneself, as created by society, has been one of my main interests since Orlando." In that earlier film, which was based on a novel by Virginia Woolf, Swinton's character self-reflected by seeing how society views her through different time periods and even a gender change. In I Am Love, Emma (Swinton) connects with love as a revolutionary force and throws off the shackles of a persona forced on her by circumstance.
I Am Love is unusual as an art film in that it is set in a world of exquisite luxury and good taste. It is not the simplistic attack on bourgeoisie we might at first expect. Working out the underlying moral fabric requires effort (but is richly rewarded). Love, or Emma, is no martyr to idealism. Revolution (of the social order) – or love – can only be justified by its success. Even the cinematic temptation to tragedy will extolled and then dashed through with a sword.
Russian-born Emma is Tancredi's wife. Tancredi co-inherits the family textile fortunes with his son Edo. Emma, although head of the household, is something of a show wife. With style and authority, but no clearly defined role in terms of business or of culture. The traditions and values of Tancredi's father for the former have maybe skipped a generation to the untried Edo. For the latter, to his sister and artist-photographer, Betta.
Secondary characters quickly provide clues to the theme. Edo's friend Antonio is an innovative, high class chef. Cuisine elicits a life-fulfilling passion in him for perfection and meaning. And Betta has a life of her own of which the parents suspect little. "Only you love me for who I really am," she tells Emma.
A superficial reading of I Am Love could leave the viewer with the impression of tragedy in which love has terrible consequences. It is essential to analyse what one actually sees (rather than a Hollywood ending that would have emphasised different points entirely). One can then imagine conversations over glasses of chablis, berating the section where the film goes 'oh so Lady Chatterley,' oblivious to how the film attacks that very same self-satisfied air of culture without visceral involvement. Even an interest in Swinton's breasts disguised by trappings of intellectual analysis. More lowbrow cinema-goers could feel even more frustrated at the 'missed opportunities' for histrionics, the emotional 'involvement' that comes from more manipulative screen writing.
I Am Love is social melodrama in the best traditions of Italian cinema. It lines up, surprisingly, more with works like L'avventura and that film's quest for self, than the compassionate criticism of an elite class in Il Gattopardo (The Leopard). In I Am Love, good taste and refinement is simply the medium for those with an ability and wherewithal to appreciate it – epitomised by Tancredi's father, his son, but perhaps not Tancredi himself. It carries no moral connotation. Empty shells on the other hand, form without substance, ultimately and unknowingly seeks its own destruction.
Tilda Swinton's career has forged a extraordinary path. In mainstream cinema, she has been hailed for work like Michael Clayton which, while impressive, hardly shows her skill in portraying worthwhile values (compared, say, to her portrait in Stephanie Daley). Or her powerhouse as an actress, in challenging cinephile gems such as The Man From London. I Am Love has potential to reach a wider, discerning audience, than her Bela Tarr movie, being shown not only in art house but as least one multiplex chain. It has an arresting, and rather beautiful romance at its heart, and one that becomes a striking metaphor for finding one's true course in life. It is ascetically 'thinking person's cinema' yet lovers of fine things can luxuriate in the sumptuous sets and costumes that inhabit art history and couture (Silvia Fendi, third generation of the famous luxury brand, was also an associate producer on the movie). Music is by Pulitzer Prize winning composer John Adams, and the perfectly choreographed closing scenes have almost operatic intensity.
One of the pleasures of writing a review is the opportunity to think a more deeply about the film - when one has to put words to paper. Only when forced to analyse the story, to separate the expected from what really happened, did I truly appreciate it. Swinton's Emma is no modern-day Madame Bovary. Style, plot and execution is far less predictable than it seems. Clichés of rich-poor, virgin-whore, as well as cinematic tropes that have become stale are effortlessly avoided. Confusing feelings are not indicated by fast cuts, but by unrelentingly staring at the character struggle in a long take.
I particularly like Swinton's power for creating interiorisation. This is visual acting at its best, showing what is going on in her head without having it spelt out. There are moments of exultation when she can barely contain herself. And moments when she struggles to stay on course – as we should, if we want to keep up. We find ourselves transfixed by her face in the bathroom. A place of privacy, where she can almost admit to herself the jubilation at a stolen kiss. And, like the art book she forgets to pay for, full of future portent. Or the moments when she is torn, at the climax of the film. The difficult self-examination in the midst of events. When Tancredi summons damnation in the words, "You don't exist," she has passed the point where she might cling to merely existing. Freedom is the power to 'go,' and to 'do.' Any avowedly lightweight cinemagoer might complain that the deaths are not dramatic enough. The cinematography not stark enough (to make us gasp in awe every few seconds at the beautiful surroundings) or the dialogue not self-explanatory enough. -
Checked this out on the merit of Luca Guadagnino's breakthrough film, Call Me By Your Name, in the interest of exploring some his past work. In some ways, I Am Love feels like a dry run for the former, particularly in its second act which is by far its strongest. It captures that same windswept, naturalistic intimacy shared between two characters who are hopelessly drawn to one another despite the social pressures that would pull them apart. Guadagnino displays the same eye for the beauty of the Italian countryside which again acts as a backdrop, and he too adorns the romance with plentiful images of the natural world.
But these similarities to Call Me By Your Name are also somewhat detrimental to the film as they draw just as much attention to the ways in which it doesn't quite reach those same heights. The characters here don't feel as rounded and full-bodied which distanced me a bit from the proceedings. There are also many more plot elements revolving around the more numerous supporting characters that fail to be as compelling as the central romance. Additionally, I took some issue with the third act of the film which veers into melodrama and results in a finale that feels forced compared to the breezy, airy quality of its earlier sections. Still, there's plenty of beauty to behold here and it's worth seeing as a formative work in Guadagnino's career, as well as on the strength of its best moments.
3.5/5 -
joel-2803 January 2013Let's start with what's good: beautiful outdoor shots, a beautiful mansion in/near Milan, wonderful stuff about the servants and the parties of the very rich.
That's all, folks...
Every character is cardboard; there's no depth, or at least (in the Emma -Tilda Swinton character) no believable depth. The plot has no surprises, except for one complete deus ex machina that's used to wrap it up -- with an ending that I at least found, consistently with the rest of this turkey, to be wildly unlikely and hence incredible. Ooooh the languor of the formal-dinner-partying rich, back in the days when one had a dozen servants to execute it. Ooooh the loving devotion of the chief housekeeper, mother to all three generations of "her" family. Oooooh the lovely, hairy body of the unsurprising love interest. And so on, and so on. The unfeeling, greedy industrialists? Wow, that's shocking. The sensitive son, who has no problem with his gay sibling but butts heads with his greedy cold dad? Who would have thought it? There is no interesting idea anywhere in this movie. -
howardvause2 September 2011I'm truly baffled. Not so much by the movie itself – the plot ambles along with excruciating predictability. No, what mystifies me is my friend's and reviewer's fervent reaction to "I Am Love". I just don't get it. Apart from some beautiful photography, and perfectly adequate performances, what exactly does this film offer? The characters are cold and unengaging; their motivation obscure. The "erotic" moments are so clichéd they look like parodies. The heart and soul of the film seem to be completely missing.
Really. I was amazed. You see, I'm such a sucker for emotional engagement with characters – I'll laugh, cry, hate, fear, cheer and philosophise along with pretty much any film I watch. I'm a producers dream.
But this? It washes over you and you sit (admiring the view) in the hope and expectation that something is going to happen soon. Something will surprise you. A character will suddenly come to life – reach out and draw you in. That you'll get a golden moment, or even a whiff of cinematic soul. But no. Nothing.
So – there it is. There's either something vital that I'm missing here or this emperor is indeed stark naked? I Am Disappointed. -
insertadjectivehere-114 January 2010I love this film! Modern, unique and very classical at the same time, it is truly pure cinema. Tilda Swinton is awesome and gorgeous and pops out of a completely new box, speaking fluent Italian and Russian.
On top of the complex and unusual story- tough and very emotional at the same time- it is a sensual feast: One just longs to keep drifting through the corridors of the family house full of servants, sun and stagnant secrets... Or to frolic in the eden-like glade with the naked lovers, watch the young chef create his amazing dishes, observe the ritual and drama of the traditional bourgeoisie being dismantled by globalization and finally be swept up in the climax which is so emotionally intense that it is almost lacerating ... carried along by the amazing score by John Adams and the distinct and inventive direction by Luca Guadagnino. Wow. See it. Twice. -
writers_reign22 May 2010This is a film heavily influenced by Visconti in both its world of aristocracy and fluid camera movements that move from almost set-piece theatrical blocks to lyrical open air vistas. We're back with our old friend the multi-generational upper-class family; ultra successful in business for several decades but now on the fringes of fragmentation to say nothing of crumbling from within as first the daughter then the mother step outside the boundaries of acceptable public moral behaviour and follow their libidos masquerading as their hearts. The acting is first rate across the spectrum, the settings are sumptuous and well photographed, the whole, strangely satisfying.
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A movie that lifted me off the ground into another world. Io Sono L Amore is one of those movies that just took my breath away and kept me floating for days. Still remember the sunshine on my face when I walked out the cinema. Really felt heavenly!
Didnt know anything about this movie when I went into the movietheatre. I must admit that the story is too complicated to rewind, but "Io Sono L Amore" is all about the feelings that will rush over you once you get hooked. It is very slowpaced. Very delicate. Very European. So maybe you wont get hooked, because there is no other director that splits audiences in half as much as Luca Guadagnino does. If you are the moviegeek type however, who loves arthouse films, then I will strongly recommend this legendary epic too you. If you are the impatient type who wants fast plot turns then you might want to reconsider. But what the heck, I am not the patient type either, but I still loved it more than any other movie in years. Would be such a shame if you would miss out on one of the most delicate and wonderful epic movies of the last decade. What do you think? No dont think, take a chance!
....So there I was, outside of the cinema afterwards, bathing in the sunlight, feeling glorious and dumbfounded at the same time. I had just witnessed one of the most emotionally intense movies in years. Oh how do I love "Io Sono L Amore" !!! -
evilkilleroats26 July 2010The Village Theatre in Claremont, Ca, where I saw muchos foreign films as a teen, closed over 30 years ago...and we finally have Laemmle in town! I've seen several foreign films there so far, and was attracted to the write-ups for 'I Am Love' as offering the lushness, the unique cinematography, the unconventional view of life as in some of those oldies.
Absolutely not. Compare it with the Laura Antonelli series of movies, like 'Wifemistress.' That's magical. Nothing about the photography was notable in this. Or anything else.
My impression is that it's modern moral-relativist (anti-intellectual) pap: the self-indulgence of finding the passion of your life warrants the betrayal of all civilized commitments. Like hell it does. "You and me baby ain't nothing but mammals; let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel..." Sure. I thought Alexander Pope said we were at least at a middle state between god-like reason and animal-like passion. Hmm...not any more, I guess...
I kept wondering who it was about...right up to the first plot point, if there was one...I thought it was about the son who lost the race. And then poor old Trancredi, who did absolutely nothing wrong, gets his kick in the stomach-I kept waiting for him to get his big acting turn.
I kept wondering, what's this about? Not much...then the lesbian thing (with the mother smiling so warmly at her daughter's sexual disorientation)...some comment about taking advantage of Jewish workers, and I thought, oh crap, more Hollywood.
The last plot point: the boy trips...uhhh...sooo...like...huh? -
ddaveddave16 January 2010I was lucky enough to catch a preview of this movie last night in London. I could say great deal about the film, but i won't, all i'd like to say is that i thought it was fantastic. The film was extremely captivating and very thought provoking. it is not often that love, passion, desire and the hope for understanding is captured so well on screen. it is a film that you will no doubt find yourself taking the role of one or more of the characters, a reminder of humanity, and the great power of love and one's need to listen to your heart, to take measures. looks good, sounds great and a beautiful punch in all manners.
8/10 -
ikanboy15 August 2010The movie starts off with a fascinating slowly unfolding scene of the gathering of a rich family to pay homage to their patriarch. My appetite whetted I waited for the unfolding of a delicious saga of wealth and the inevitable inner rot. Instead the movie continues to have us watch, at some emotional distance, the Italian version of "Damage." A rich woman (Swinton at her most taut)tastes the forbidden fruit and ends up with far more guilt than she'd bargained for.
There is no passion here, no empathy for the characters, merely a rich travelog through the boring, sumptuous lives of the beautiful people. Swinton beds a chef, but we see no evidence of love beyond the obligatory bits and pieces of nakedness.
When it all comes crashing down, as in "Damage" I expected at least a resounding splat, but instead we get loud music, and a quick exit for our anti heroine. Instead of Sturm und drang we get flatulence. What is the Italian for Sturm und drang, anyway. -
mauricecaldera-709-92042411 April 2010This is an impeccably designed melodrama in the classic Italian and Hollywood sense. It pays homage to Visconti, Sirk etc. in the same (but different) way that Almodovar pays homage to them (over and over again). But for a film that takes itself utterly seriously, it really has absolutely nothing to say. It glides through its themes and events without the least interest in developing any of them, all the director is interested in is the aesthetic and dramatic effect that they might offer. In fact, it is all effect. The dialogue is quite often stilted, perhaps in the manner that the dialogue can often see stilted in the classic films that he is trying to emulate, but when they're in London (for a meeting in the city...cue the Gherkin...)...the dialogue isn't stilted, it's incomprehensible...
What he lacks in substance, he makes up for in style, the World of Interiors set design is impeccable, and indeed is the star of the film, as is the wardrobe, all that's missing is the catwalk. But the camera work and editing is incoherent and gratuitous and works against the film at all times. He is using the visual language of an artist video piece to tell the story of lush soap opera...Guadagnino really throws everything he can at the spectator in order to reinvent the genre, but the result is clumsy and often annoying.
That said, this is at least a brave albeit flawed attempt at film-making, the actors look the part, which is all they're expected to do, and mostly pull off the clumsy dialogue, and there are some genuinely moving moments, if only visually. The music heightens the drama to such a pitch that sometimes you're not sure whether to laugh or explode. What could have been a great film was in the end, an often frustrating but nevertheless intense cinematic experience. -
jotix10011 July 2010The aristocratic Recchi clan, whose fortune has been made in textiles, are gathering to celebrate the patriarch's birthday. Edoardo Recchi decides to announce the way he wants the family business to remain under the helm of his son Tancredi, and his grandson Edo, assisting his father. Behind the planning of the dinner is Emma Recchi, the Russian born wife of Tancredi. Emma radiates sophistication as well as an impressive way in which she has been able to adapt to the customs of her adopted country.
The palatial life of the Recchi clan is one where class and privilege live side by side in what they must feel is their right to exist. Emma, who for all appearances is a woman dedicated to the well being of her family, shares a loveless kind of existence with her cold husband Tancredi. Emma, in spite of having been accepted as one of the family, is not completely 'at home' with the Recchis. She only seems to have one friend in Ida, who is in charge of the household, but in reality, a servant.
Emma's world begins to disintegrate when Elizabetta, her daughter, confesses she is a lesbian. While supportive of the young woman, Emma has problems of her own as she begins taking an interest in a young chef, Antonio,a friend of her son Edo. What starts innocently enough, ends up into a passionate liaison between Emma and Antonio.
The financial empire of the Recchis take a turn of its own when an entrepreneurial wizard sells the idea of taking the business globally, something the older Recchi, had he been alive, would have been appalled, but the new generation decides to go along with the scheme. The family will consolidate itself as a giant in the world of textiles.
Tragedy finds Emma in a way she never thought it could affect her. The Recchi clan unites after the untimely death of Edo. Emma finds herself rejected by the same people that opened their arms in accepting her to the high place she occupied until her fall of grace. Tancredi drops her from his life and his family without any regrets, but in all the suffering Emma experiences, she has found refuge in the fact that Antonio loves her for what she means to him.
Luca Guadagnino, the director of this film, also collaborated in the screenplay. This film consolidates him as one of the most interesting directors of his generation. His take on the aristocratic clan, at the center of the story, is one of the best accounts in the life of the Italian aristocracy. His work in the film shows he was perhaps influenced by another great master of the Italian cinema, Lucino Visconti, a man that came from that world himself.
Tilda Swinton makes the film what it is because of the tremendous performance the director got from her. This actress is a joy to watch because she captures the essence of the kind of interloper she is in the Recchi clan. Although tolerated, she is never one of them. Emma has fulfilled her role within the family and has done what is expected of her, but no one from the Recchis has taken the time to really appreciate her in the least. Emma will remain one of her best creations for the screen.
Mr. Guadagnino got excellent ensemble acting from the amazing cast that was put together. Flavio Parenti, Edoardo Gabriellini, Alba Rohrwacher, and especially Maria Paiato, who plays Ida, do a wonderful job for the director. Gabriele Ferzetti, an actor that had a good career in films, working with the likes of Antonioni, and others, appears as the patriarch Edoardo.
The magnificence and opulence of the Milanese aristocracy is captured in vivid detail in the cinematography of Yorick LeSaux. The musical score is by John Adams. While this film is obvious not for everyone, it will stand as a testimony to Luca Guadagnino's talent. -
I am Love is a family drama that tries so hard to hide the use of a clichéd formula that it ends up becoming a movie with too much on its hands to work with. It doesn't get the viewer involved enough to care or come away with anything of value. I am Love works in small pieces, but the big picture seems weak.
For Tilda Swinton, I am Love will surely be a proud moment. Her ability to act in Italian and Russian alike is impressive, but unfortunately it feels under used. There is not enough character for her to work with I felt, and like the vast majority of the cast, she doesn't get enough to say. I am Love when you stop to think about it, feels surprisingly shy in dialogue. Too many supporting characters exist simply to take up screen space.
Swinton Plays Emma, a Russian-born woman who has married into a wealthy Itallian family; the Recchis. Her husband has just inherited the family textile company, to be shared in responsibility with their Edo. Edo friend is an exceptional cook who when invited to cater the Ricchi's latest party captures the attention of Emma. soon he wins her heart, and they have an affair. Meanwhile the Recchi business has agreed to a merger in the interests of a more economically prosperous future, Edo, disapproves because he feels that the sentimental value of the company is being left behind. Where is this gonna lead?
The most effective quality of I am Love is its photography. This is a well shot picture, in which the camera ranges from being extremely intimate to being loose and distant. For its mise-en scene, I Am Love relies on the existing beauty of the world rather than the recreated beauty. Art direction feels quite minimal in I am Love. The Recchi family has a big beautiful mansion but it is largely under dressed, and quite plain. By contrast everything outdoors is captured in exquistisite beauty: public sculpture, architecture, the snow, the rain, the country side, the flowers. The movie also knows how to photograph fancy dishes in a way that makes it look just as delicious as well presented. What needs a tune up though (liteally) is the score. It sounds overly assertive and draws too much attention to itself, trying to dramatize moments that do not need musical dramatization. It would be like putting a baby to sleep with Metallica.
I am Love, might have made a good movie had it been though through a bit better. There are times when it comes close to making you care, but it doesn't quite make it. What we get is not quite enriching enough to pass for anything more than a well dressed soap opera; watchable, but not great -
'I am Love' is the saga of the Recchis, a very well-off Italian family from Milan who own a textile factory. It takes about a half hour until we enter the second act of the story. Up until then, we're introduced to the family in a very over long expository scene involving a birthday party for the family patriarch, the grandfather, Edoardo Sr. Things finally pick up when the grandfather announces that he's decided to retire and cedes the ownership of the company to both his son, Tancredi, and his grandson, Edoardo Jr. Note that the grandfather disappears for the rest of the film and one wonders why we hear nothing of him later on, especially because Tancredi eventually decides to sell the textile factory, a business, which is made clear from the outset, is very dear to the old man.
The funny thing about 'I am Love' is that all of the characters are underdeveloped—some more so than others. I'll dispense with the characters which we learn almost next to nothing about, first. There's Giancarla, Tancredi's brother, who has about three lines for the entire movie. Then there's Edoardo Jr's girlfriend, Eva, who he gets married to, but I can't seem to remember the nature of their conversations. There's also Elisabetta, Tancredi's daughter, who dispenses with her handsome boyfriend and ends up in a committed lesbian relationship while attending art school in London. Finally there's veritable straw man Tancredi himself, who's depicted as a stick in the mud, and gets his comeuppance when his Russian born wife, Emma, leaves him at the end of the story.
The main plot revolves around Trancredi's wife, Emma, who falls for son Edoardo Jr's new found friend, chef Antonio. The 'chef' is the quintessential Italian lover, passionate about the two things most dear to a passionate Italian male's heart: food and sex! Emma conveniently runs into Antonio while visiting Sanremo and (shock of all shocks!), they end up making passionate love outside Antonio's house in the hills high above the picturesque town. The love-making is shot tastefully especially with juxtaposed scenes of plants undergoing pollination (also thrown in, is the busy, modernistic, John Adams score!).
Meanwhile we find out a few things about Edoardo Jr.'s situation. He's really a good guy especially when we find out how upset he is about workers being fired down at the textile factory—after all the grandfather wouldn't have done that to his workers! But the foreman points out (and this is about the most ambiguity offered up during the entire narrative), the grandfather had no qualms about conscripting Jewish slave laborers during the war. It's an interesting tidbit, but never explored. Edoardo Jr. puts up the good fight after his father decides to sell the factory to an Indian-American businessman in London. Ultimately, the company is sold and Edoardo Jr. returns home deflated.
The ending of 'I am love' not only feels tacked on—but wholly manipulative. After finding a series of clues, Edoardo Jr. deduces that his mother and Antonio have been having the affair. They argue outside a party and Edoardo somehow stumbles and hits his head on the concrete beside a pool. The doctors are unable to save him and he dies of a brain hemorrhage. After the funeral, Tancredi finds Emma alone inside the church, and consoles her by covering her with his jacket after a rainstorm. Emma reveals that she's been in love with Antonio all along and in a laughable moment, Tancredi grabs his coat back and tells her that he has disowned her. As previously mentioned, Emma gains her comeuppance by walking out on Tancredi. There's the added feel good bonus in a nod to woman's rights—just before Emma takes off, daughter Elisabetta gives her approving nod to her mother, acknowledging that she's in complete agreement with her plan to dump her father and run back to the savory chef.
For cynics such as myself, 'I am love' is all style over substance. There's nothing distinctive about Emma and Antonio's affair and I found Edoardo Jr.'s bizarre death designed to extract as many unearned tears possible from a susceptible audience. 'I am love' has some nifty cinematography and the actors all give sincere performances. Ultimately, however, this is a film which is all about the 'passion' and nothing about fully realized characters. After wimpy Tancredi gets thrown under the bus and 'passionate' lovers Emma and Antonio get a free pass as they awkwardly embrace down inside the cave at the film's end, I could only react with a two word Yiddish expletive: 'Oy vey'.