"I Am Love"-- Film Review

Luca Guadagnino's "I Am Love", produced by and starring Tilda Swinton, starts off elegantly, with black and white images and dramatic symphonic panache.   The film is a modern day melodrama, composed around the Recchi family – an Italian clan whose wealth was built on the family textile business in Milan.  


The film begins with a family gathering, during which the Recchi patriarch passes down the family business to his son Tancredi (Pippo Delbono) and grandson Edoardo (Flavio Parenti). 


Tancredi's Russian wife, Emma (Tilda Swinton) is initially portrayed as a secondary character - reserved, somewhat removed, she is an obedient wife who acts in accordance with the cannons dictated by the Recchi clan.  Swinton is splendid with her Russian- Italian accent that sounds almost effortless.

The film’s deliberate slow pace continues to disguise the significance of Emma's character as the centre of the story until somewhere mid film.  Although she is married to a powerful man, has beautiful children and lives in a gorgeous Italian villa, surrounded by servants, Emma is clearly catatonic in her job as the house wife. 

Through a series of events and encounters that awaken her senses and memories, Emma gradually transforms back into the young Russian girl, who remained submerged after leaving Russia to become Tancredi’s wife.  As events continue to unfold, Emma reemerges as Kitish in an attempt to flee the patriarchal world of the Recchis and keeps rising until she breaks free in a dramatic finale.  

The camera work of "I Am Love" tells the story through carefully chosen images that make Milan look like Moscow.  The film score carefully matches the setting and progression of the character development.  Composed by acclaimed minimalist musician John Adams, the  orchestral score compliments each scene with a mix of dramatic and somber tones, that accurately reflect Emma’s suppressed nature. As the film progresses, the music advances to an almost operatic climax, while dialogue becomes less and less important.  As a result, the film sounds like an opera and looks like a classical European drama.

"I Am Love" is a bold film, which Guadagnino and Swinton meticulously sculpt by using fluid cinematography, implicit glances and secret gestures.  No detail goes untouched, no gesture overlooked, no sound left unnoticed while symbolism, light and music convey the story of transformation, liberation and becoming one with love.  


A lot of furtive messages are hidden in this film and are best explained by Tilda Swinton herself in this interview.

Verdict: the film is an alluring feast of senses and I’d recommend it to anyone who cares about watching true cinema and does not mind sitting in the theater for two hours.