Elegant in its telling of personal and sexual awakening, I Am Love is a painterly yet thrilling brushstroke of a traditional narrative as Emma Recchi (Tilda Swinton – Snowpiercer, The French Dispatch) transitions from faithful but repressed wife and mother to passionate lover.
Married into the wealthy Milanese industrialist family, Emma is the perfect host and mother to her three twenty something children. A bored dilettante of sumptuous meals, shopping and lunches out, her main confidant is housekeeper, Ida (Maria Paiato – La pelle dell’orso, Il testimone invisibile). But life and aspirations change when eldest son, Edoardo (Flavio Parenti – Parlami d’amore, To Rome With Love) introduces friend and potential business partner Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini – Ovosodo, Ora o mai più) to the family.
It’s a grand sweep of a feature with a gorgeously brash and climactic score by John Adams (Run Lola Run, Call Me By Your Name) and directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, A Bigger Splash).
Nominated for best costume design Oscar in 2011.
Rating: 79%
An Opinion or Two 