As much as I hate to say this, and as much as I'm not going to enjoy writing this review after roughly three months of skyrocketing anticipation, I feel the need to start off with this statement: Luca Guadagnino's I am Love is everything that A Single Man's (2009) detractors accused it of being. For a film that Swinton and Guadagnino spent 11 years trying to bring to the big screen, it's amazing that it's so thoroughly lacking in such key departments. Set at the turn of this century, Guadagnino's film tells (well, tries to) the story of a wealthy Milanese family, and the wife whose affair causes chaos.
The biggest problem above all in Guadagnino's film is one of my least favorite techniques in film making: the themes/symbols/metaphors/etc are given emphasis to the point that they end up fighting the actual narrative, instead of supporting it, enhancing it, and giving it nuance. Case in point: Emma's (Swinton) affair with young chef Antonio arises over a supposed connection via food. While the scene where Emma has a near-erotic reaction to Antonio's prawn dish is wonderful, it ends up making no sense. This is tied into problem #2: thin characters. Antonio has absolutely no charisma, and no spark with Swinton, and what little they're given to do together doesn't exactly burn with passion. We have nothing to feel for either of these people, even Swinton, which makes the sexual-liberation angle collapse. And since there's nothing about Antonio that's remotely compelling, it kind of makes you wonder: how on earth did she fall for him through his food? Emma is extremely wealthy and lives in ITALY; something tells me that great food really isn't in short supply. I could understand if perhaps Guadagnino had added a slight element of fantasy/magical realism (a la Like Water for Chocolate), but he doesn't. And Swinton, always fascinating to watch, almost becomes slightly boring simply because there's little for her to really do amid the hollowness of the whole thing. The only character that has any emotional depth is Edoardo (Flavio Parenti), Emma's oldest son. Unfortunately, given the lack of passion in the love affair (John Adams' music can only stir you so much when the material on screen is this empty), nothing else really holds together, culminating in a ridiculous ending. After giving us too little to work with and remaining rather distant emotionally, Guadagnino suddenly rushes everything in the last five minutes in a ridiculous climax that wastes Adams' music even further, indulging in almost laughable silent close-ups. The conflict between narrative and themes finally launches off the rails at the end, leaving an ending that really doesn't make sense, especially given the lack of character depth. Even the photography ceases to impress after a while, save for a few tracking shots of Emma through her home. But the biggest crime of it all, especially with A Single Man still relatively fresh in my mind, is that unlike that film, Guadagnino and company are unable to take a limited narrative and turn it into something compelling. I'll admit, perhaps purely on the music I was left slightly shaken when it was over, but in an unfortunately unsatisfying way.
Grade: C
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