Review of I Am Love (2010) by Ben D — 12 Mar 2013

This is an accomplished film, beautifully shot and acted, that nevertheless stumbles into ordinariness once it becomes about an affair and nothing more.

The opening party, when we meet the various members of the Rechhi clan, in a snowy, cold Milan, is extremely well done, the direction and script economical, giving us just enough insight to care. Then some months pass, and the grey, cold visual palate gives way to Mediterranean heat and sun, and the movie opens out and the affair begins.

Tilda Swinton is mesmerising here, beautiful and elegant, she manages to suggest that there is rough passion still alive in this cold outer shell. When she relents to desire, the camera spins headily, Luca Guadagnino's direction takes in every sight and sound, and it is a rhapsody of light and sound. It is all so well done, so much so that the final half hour of the movie cannot live up to those dizzy heights.

Nevertheless, this is an accomplished piece of cinema, beautifully put together.