“When I moved to Milan, I stopped being Russian,” says Emma Recchi (Tilda Swinton). It's a paradoxically cold statement around which Guadagnino's tantalising turn-of-the-millennium love story wraps its ample heart. An unapologetically strident slice of art house cinema, I Am Love is the kind of achingly beautiful film that seduces from the first frame. Likewise its bewitching cast led by a screen-stealing Tilda Swinton whose epic meltdown is upstaged only by a bowl of soup.
A Russian emigrant, Emma has married well. Her husband is Italian aristocracy and has assumed control of the family factory. But she sits on the outside; Emma may be one of them, but is not of them. More often she plays caterer, rather than hostess, to the household. No matter, there's a cute chef in the kitchen (Eduardo Gabbriellini) and soon her world will forever change. But first Guadagnino has a scene to set.
And set it he does. Northern Italy shines in his glittering sun, radiant in the rarefied air of his wealthy, couture clad Milanese masters. Due attention is paid to family members who inform the central action and the swirl of emotion that follows. Emma's eldest wants to open a restaurant, her daughter has dropped her boyfriend for a girl, her husband is embracing a philanthropic future – it's time for Emma to embrace a few things of her own. While this narrative is arguably no more than grist for a melodramatic pot boiler (and John Adams’ rousing score presses this button soundly), consider it set-dressing for the powerful human discourse that Guadagnino shepherds our attention toward.
I Am Love is about things: old and new, tradition and feeling, heart and soul. When Emma is effectively thrown to the ground in an ancient cathedral, these emotions collide in spectacular metaphorical fashion. Equally spectacular is Swinton's casting, proving once more that she's one of the finest actors in work today. Who else could pull off speaking Italian with a Russian accent? Consequently she doesn't so much adopt an emotion as embody it; actions rather than words evoking her inner and outer turmoil. It's an outrageously exciting performance to watch.
Want to impress a date that you are love and have a good time doing it? Go see this film.
// COLIN FRASER
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