Review of I Am Love (2010) by Peter V — 21 Jul 2010

Sure this is an (at times) sophisticated film. Yes it has some gorgeous cinematography and the narrative has a cool detachment that. But it's so coolly detached that ultimately it's a cold corpse.

It's strangely soulless and in terms of character, utterly unengaging. The characters are just not well drawn - not only did I not like any of the characters, I had no idea who they were, even as the credits rolled.

Head of the Recchi family, Tancredi, is a pivotal character but he's worse than dull - he's just lifeless. Tilda Swinton's Emma is typically chameleon-like, and (for a change), she excels as an emotional icy pole.

But she weirdly vacillates for a second here and there - momentarily sucking on her lip like a smacked child or smiling to hersellf. I know that is meant to convey a woman in torment, but it just looks a little odd.

Her love scenes with Antonio have the potential to offer the viewer solace from a frigid world - but her lover is a cardboard cut-out and their affection is treated like a distant memory. There's a big problem with the music here too - which at times is so overblown and mismatched to the prosaic storytelling that it becomes laughable.

I note that 81 per cent of critics liked this film but only 63 per cent of flixster users. I'm not surprised - it's bound to be a critic's darling because of its grand ambitions - obsession with money, privilege and forbidden love - but it handles everything with a disappointing superficiality.

Save for DVD.