I think it was Mark Kermode who said that if you have to say a film was beautifully shot then it wasn't very good. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I Am Love is an achingly beautiful film and it is a very good film but not quite a great film.
And the reason? It is just too beautiful for it's own good.
Tilday Swinton's character Emma takes centre stage as the Russian wife in a powerful and rich Italian family, the Recchi's. There home is all elegance and sophistication with family dinner celebrations run with the sort of precision and food you'd expect in a Michelin starred restaurant.
But so much of the family life, like Emma's perfect attire, coiffed and manicured appearance is all surface. Underneath there is a love rebellion going on. Daughter Elizabeth ditches her perfect upper class boyfriend to secretly date her female tutor. Son Edoardo marries beneath him and hangs out with Antonio a chef with whom he may or may not have feelings for (there are undertones of a devotion and jealousy in Edoardo's friendship that I didn't feel were wholly hetrosexual). And Emma, well Emma and Antonio fall in love and embark on a passionate affair.
However the price for this rebellious and indulgent secret love is tragedy. I won't spoil it by saying what it is, as some reviewers seem to have no qualms about doing. But only one of the trio, as a consequence, is spurred into re-evaluating their double existence and makes a choice about which path they want to walk.
In an interview in Sight & Sound's May edition Swinton talks about her love of opera and how certain scenes were shot with pieces of music in mind and it does add incredibly to the atmosphere and drama of the film. But at times it felt much more for the enjoyment of those making the film rather than audience.
As a consequence it is a little long and the pace sags in places but tempered with sterling performance from Swinton and the rest of the cast it is still an highly enjoyable film.
Here are some other reviews:
Daily Telegraph 'Tilda Swinton is ridiculously enjoyable to watch in the Italian drama I Am Love, dressed in colours you want to drink, and exploring her puzzled, porcelain allure in ways that make the screen fairly quiver.'
Empire Online 'A stately, rich and moving Italian melodrama in the spirit of Visconti.'
Time Out London 'There are many reasons to recommend this sensual and good-looking film about personal and female liberation'
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