I Am Love (2009)

lo sono l'amore...this film is an Italian language film with subtitles.

I was not sure about seeing this Luca Guadagnino film, but the operatic family drama about turn of the millennium Milan and a dynasty of industrial wealth is not boring or predictable. I would see anything with Tilda Swinton, who is cast as Emma, the Russian immigrant to Italy who is married to Tancredi, the son of the Recchi Clothing tycoon. Now the mother of three grown children (Edo, Gianluca, Betta), she is planning a party for the Recchi patriarch as he prepares to name an heir to the family business.

Life in the haute bourgeoisie is full of beauty, lavish foods, fabrics, art. Lovely at middle age in her sheath dresses and mile-high pumps, Emma is the lithe maternal goddess who binds the family together. Self-contained and enigmatic, she seems to enjoy little marital intimacy, despite the stately bedroom she shares with Tancredi. Who is she really? As the young people party outside by the pool, she sits alone high above all the action stitching her needlepoint, content to close herself away with drawn drapes. We do begin to learn more about her as the story unfolds and a younger man captures her attention.

Everyone in this film is attractive. Marisa Berenson is the glistening and glamorous wife of the patriarch, mother to Tancredi. We begin to see that the loveliness and sparkle of this world is not as solid as it seems. What happens to tradition and stability when sweeping changes blow through the Recchi family?

Edo has partnered with a progressive young chef to open a restaurant. Betta has broken up with her boyfriend and moved to London, where she is finding herself in new ways. Gianluca and his wife are expecting their first child. The Recchi clothing business faces a new chapter as we watch that drama unfold in the corporate boardroom. A turbaned businessman speaks eloquently about the necessity of business to change in response to a rapidly growing world population.

Each member of the Recchi family face their own personal transformation as the container shatters. The pace of this film builds slowly as the stage is set for the unexpected events to unfold and by the end, one walks out of the theater feeling the effect of an emotional roller coaster. The story lingers with me.

See archives on sidebar for reviews of other Tilda Swinton films (Julia--Oct. 2009, Limits of Control--Dec. 2009, Broken Flowers--Jan. 2010).

I had recently seen two other films that share common themes of infidelity and inevitability of personal change that comes along with that. I liked both films very much...

The Kids Are Alright features an American middle-class family featuring lesbian mothers with two teenage children.

Cloud 9 is a German language film with subtitles featuring a lower middle-class married couple with a grown daughter and young grandchildren.