I Am Love

A tall, fine-boned woman with shining blond hair polishes a bowl made of gold. She stands relaxed, as servants bustle about the room--the golden woman calmly polishing the golden bowl. It is an arresting, precise image, the first we see of Emma Recchi, played by the ever more astonishing Tilda Swinton in the film "I Am Love," written and directed by Luca Guadagnino. Swinton and Guadagnino spent seven years developing the story and the characters, and the result is a film of subtle cues and implications, a family drama Shakespearean in complexity and firmly rooted in Greek tragedy. Although the Recchi family is Italian haute bourgeoisie, their attitudes and actions carry the weight of royalty. As the story unfolds it becomes clear that much is expected in this family and that there are consequences for those who disappoint or defy those expectations, that there are people who matter and those who do not, and, more than anything else, that freedom is both glorious and terrible, and always comes with a price.After the opening collage of stern, stone facades of a Milan deep in the grey of winter, the interior of the Recchi villa is aglow with rich, warm color. As the servants and Emma work to prepare the table for dinner the family gathers, chatting about the unexpected loss of a race by the eldest son, Edo, to a man no one has heard of--the first disappointment of the evening (Recchis do not lose). Dinner is being prepared for the birthday celebration of the pater familias, Edoardo Recchi, Sr. Around the long table are his family: his wife, Allegra; eldest son, Tancredi, and his wife, Emma; Edo, the eldest son and prodigal, the hope of the family, and the child closest to his mother's heart; younger son, Gianluca; the youngest child, daughter Elisabetta, and a few others who seem to be both family and business connections. Edo has also brought home a new girlfriend, Eva. The calm of this perfect dinner, enjoyed by the perfect family, is unexpectedly ruffled when Edoardo, who has chosen this occasion to announce his successor in the family textile business, tells Tancredi he will share power with Edo as it "will take two men to replace him." This is a King passing on his crown, and he is insistent that the dynasty continue--the business must always be carried on by Recchis. It is all too obvious that he finds his own son not quite up to the mark, but trusts his grandson, Edo, who values the business for itself rather than merely for the fortune it has engendered.Later, Elisabetta gives her grandfather his birthday gift and it emerges that, despite the appearance of family unity, there are other forces at work. Betta has been a painter but has made a gift of a photograph on this occasion; her grandfather is amused and tolerant, but claims that she still "owes" him a painting--she is a painter who should not waste her time on nonsense. Only Emma loves the photograph and reassures Betta of its value, but the feeling remains of a thread having been pulled loose from the family tapestry (later we will learn just how far from her narrow family she has gone). After dinner we meet Antonio, the chef who beat Edo earlier that day, when he arrives at the villa with a hand-made cake, a gift for Edo. He is received by him and his mother, who is struck by the gesture. Emma asks him in but he is aware that he is not of their class and retreats quickly, although later, Edo will pull that loosened thread further by going outside of his class to become Tonio's close friend and business partner.This important dinner is just the first of the film's many meals; in this story, food is a force which binds people together and is rich with meaning, literal and symbolic. A lunch or dinner can change a person's life irrevocably; a bowl of soup can communicate love or signal a betrayal, and those who prepare food are different from those who merely eat it.A few months later, at the height of summer, Emma meets her (now widowed) mother-in-law and new daughter-in-law (Edo has married his girlfriend) at Antonio's family's restaurant, where she experiences sensory overload as she tastes the shrimp Tonio has prepared for her. The sound fades and lights dim around her and she is spotlighted as she eats slowly, savoring every subtle flavor. It is a breathtaking moment, the center of the film; somehow, these mouthfuls of food have woken her up--her senses come alive for the first time, perhaps, in years. She tastes ecstasy. This moment will lead Emma on a new path; the next time she sees Tonio she will follow him (in what may be the year's best chase scene) until they collide and he takes her to his home high above San Remo, where he lives in natural splendor on a verdant hillside, a far cry from the studied, artificial perfection of the Recchi villa in Milan. They become lovers, and the rest of the film's action derives from that one decision; through it, Emma will shake the Recchi family to its core.Up to this point, Guadagnino has kept strict control of time--we know where and when we are as we follow Betta's unfolding story in London and Edo's journey through the business world as he opposes his father and brother when they want to sell the company--but while Emma is with Tonio, time is fluid, elongated. She seems to spend days, even weeks with him (Edo will come looking for his friend and find no sign of him). They make love in a meadow, cut her perfectly coiffed hair short, curl up inside a cave high up in the hills. She teaches him to make ukha, the traditional Russian soup she learnt to make as a young girl in her native country, and tells Tonio about herself: with irony, she tells how Tancredi found her while he was treasure-hunting in Russia. She tells Tonio of how Edo loves her Russian-ness (they speak Russian together, while no one else in the family has bothered to learn it), and loves her ukha. It is a special treat she prepares for him (it was served at his grandfather's birthday dinner). We learn that her name isn't Emma at all--Tancredi decided to call her that--and she claims not to remember her real name, only a childhood nickname. She has made herself over entirely to become Emma Recchi, a fictitious person living a life that takes no account of who she really is. Through her relationship with Tonio her true self begins to emerge. Emma, who before shone with the buffed polish of that bowl she held earlier, now glows with sunshine and joy. This entire sequence is a foray into D.H. Lawrence territory, not just in its sensuality, but in making the argument that Tonio, the natural man, is a deeper, realer, and in every sense better man than the mechanical Tancredi. It is a dangerous edge for the director to walk, but Swinton's earthy performance grounds the sequence concretely--we never, for a moment, disbelieve Emma's reawakening to life; she seems to be breathing the air for the very first time. It is when she tries to bring this newly alive self home to the Recchi villa that she finds herself out of joint, unable to control the ways in which this new-found relationship rebounds on her family. Tragedy is inevitable, and so thoroughly has the film embraced food as the means of meaningful communication that we are not surprised when the fatal blow is delivered via a bowl of ukha. That blow is swift and dreadful; the thread that Betta first tweaked has been pulled too loose; the once flawless tapestry unravels completely. But in the end it is that selfsame thread which becomes Emma's lifeline, delivering her intact.Tilda Swinton's performance is simply extraordinary; she has become a force of nature. Her iconic appearances in Derek Jarman's "Edward II" and Sally Potter's sumptuous "Orlando" were early training for the regal cool required for this role. More recently we've seen her as the lonely wife hungry for sexual intensity in "Young Adam," the passionately protective mother in "The Deep End," and, in "Michael Clayton," the brittle, ferocious attorney who can contract out a couple of murders and still get on with her day. In this film, speaking both Italian and Russian, she moves effortlessly from the immaculate businessman's wife to the abandoned sensualist who gives in to love completely, without ever sounding a false note. She shows not a trace of discomfort or self-consciousness as, at nearly fifty years old, she lies naked in the Italian sun, and, when grief overwhelms Emma, she makes herself even more naked, stripped bare by bewildered shock. The film is unimaginable without her.Lushly photographed by Yorick Le Saux, with an energetic and unusual score by John Adams, with excellent performances by all, especially Maria Paiato as Emma's faithful maid, Gabriele Ferzetti as Edoardo, Sr., Marisa Berenson as Allegra, Flavio Parenti as Edo, and Edoardo Gaberiellini as Tonio, "I Am Love" is, in every sense of the word, a feast.

For a film as beautifully shot and splendidly acted as `Io Sono L'amore', it is disappointing for me to find the film almost void of all intended poignancy. This sites reviewer mentions a balance between sublime and silly, and I totally concur with the argument that this particular film struggles to juggle both `apposing' factions. The sublime is easy to identify, while the underscored `silly' notions are the most memorable and thus the most deafening factors allocated with this film.So I'll break those down.The `sublime':Tilda Swinton is ridiculously amazing here. I think that this woman, this creature, this goddess from the heavens is rapidly becoming my favorite working actress. She can do no wrong and she can do nearly anything. What she does with her character, that of Emma Recchi, is marvelous. She attains such rich character development without raising an octave or engaging in normal Oscar baiting. She understands how to evoke countless emotions with just the minor movements in her face. The film is also lavishly shot. The sets are outstanding to look at and the costumes (I feel funny calling `clothes' costumes but whatever) are stunning. It's funny, but I still remember that `green dress' from `Atonement' like I was staring at it this very moment, and I feel that three years from now I'll still remember that `orange dress' from this film as well. I loved the films general direction as well, and the sharp editing that made the film feel so exotic and consuming.That said; the `silly':I have this issue with food and romance, but I'm not even going to get into that, since it's too obvious. My real issue with `Io Sono L'amore' boils all the way down to the films final frames; the conclusion. This is why I can't really `get into it' and maybe you should just take my word for it, but then again I am a firm believer in not taking ANYONE'S word for anything, so you really should see this movie (even if I have my reservations, Tilda should be up for the Oscar this year). I'll just say that the way in which Emma's characters final climactic resolve is unveiled is just way too, melodramatic. For a film that is so subtle and soft and reserved, allowing the emotional presence to sift quietly beneath the intoxicatingly vibrant backdrops, the ending comes as a gigantic slap in the face and is so abrasive that it feels like it's been pulled from a different film. Maybe that was the point, and I was ready and willing to forgive it until it went all sorts of soap opera thematic with the final `fleeing' moment that I found myself rolling my eyes at all the clichéd dramatizations. It was a horrifically constructed mess.Seriously.In the end I kind of forgive it, but I can't love it like I wanted to. It's sad when a single moment in a film can basically derail and quite frankly ruin the whole thing.

Not what it said it was

A rather slow-paced romantic drama that centres on Emma (Tilda Swinton) the Russian woman married into a wealthy upper-class Italian family modelled loosely on actual families that would be well-known to Italian viewers; set in Milan, it's a visually rich and stylish film and despite it's affluent setting it has a wider appeal, as it is really is about women breaking free of a patriarchal society; in that respect it`s a broadly political film, more layered in it`s aims than a superficial first viewing might reveal.Swinton gives a good performance, ably supported by a fine ensemble cast.The standard UK DVD release has a commentary, over 1 hour`s worth of interviews and a “behind the scenes” featurette running to 13 minutes; it is – of course – an Italian film with English subtitles, which are also included for the extras.

A superb story with beautiful Milan in the background . The decline of a rich aristocratic family.

I had high hopes of this film, and it is indeed visually splendid and very well acted. However, the plot is such that I found it impossible to suspend disbelief and watched with increasing boredom and irritation. The ending verges on the ludicrous, and I was quite relieved when it was all over!

The first thing that struck me about this film when I first saw it was the quality of the cinematography - great shots amid luscious Tuscan scenery. The next was the quality of the sound track which is also outstanding. Then as I watched it I saw some great performances and a gripping story line. And as the title tells you, it's a romantic block-buster. I first saw it on television but I missed the first half hour or so and I just had to go straight out and buy the DVD as I know I'll want to watch it again and again.

I didn't notice the version I got was with German subtitles - no English, no option to turn off the subtitles and struggle with the Italian - so unless you're in Germany caveat emptorBeautiful film though