Review of I Am Love (2010) by Ws W — 03 Feb 2011

A sumptuous visual feast, I Am Love, is ultimately a sad story about an outsider who never really connected with her husband or his family, and began an affair with a friend of her son. The lighting and the cinematography are exquisite.

Tilda Swinton, plays Emma, a Russian emigre, married to Tancredi Recchi (Pippo Delbono) an Italian businessman. The family is tightly knit, but there are indications that the circle has difficulty enlarging to include others who were not born into it.

Swinton is magnificent, while the rest of the cast is superb. The tension of the family dynamic is tangible, and the loneliness that drives Emma into another man's arms is easily discernible. This is not a lot of fun, but paints an unflinching picture of a woman who leaves the security of her family, hoping to find the piece of herself that has been missing.