Review of I Am Love (2010) by Michael M — 05 Feb 2011

The good: Well cast, usage of John Adams' 'Chairman Dances' throughout the first two thirds of the film,.

The bad: Oh dear, everything other thing on offer. The prawn scene attempts to suggest that the way to a woman's heart is through her stomach. Eisenstein would have blushed at the implications of intercutting lovemaking with bees polinating flowers. There's even a pigeon in a church that sounds like a crow, and in case you miss the symbolism, a second pigeon shot rams it home. Imposing climax via needle-dropped music over a hurried, unbelievable act. All of this is secondary to the fact that the film is really following the wrong story. There's nothing in this easy, empty 'woman on fire' story that isn't in any other version of the tale. The grandson's story was the one worth devoting more time to. To all those who say the director lifts the material, I can only say that he's sure doing his darndest.