Review of I Am Love (2010) by Saharat S — 28 Mar 2010

I am a passionate lover of foreign cinema. Some of the finest cinematic works have come from over seas other than Hollywood. Then there are those that just leave you scratching your head wondering how they got made in the first place. I Am Love is one such film.

Milan, and a family run textile factory has just been handed over to the owner's son and grandson. The grandson has other plans too; starting his own restaurant with a chef who beat him in a race. The family happiness is about to be thrown into turmoil when the lady of the house starts an affair with the chef, which leads to tragedy and the destruction of the strong family bond.

I have to say that this is a very beautiful looking film. Director Luca Guadagnino knows how to frame a shot. Each scene is like a photograph and along with vibrant colours and interesting angles, it sets it apart from most other films. Tilda Swinton, as the woman, is fantastic. Learning Italian and Russian for the role is an amazing achievement, and her performance is quite breath-taking. Those are the positives. Now for the negatives...

This is an absolute bore. For a whole hour we get nothing but lovely framed shots and very little else. The story doesn't really kick in till the second part and even then it drags its feet. There are those who will accuse me of not fully understanding the subtleties of the story, the creation of character, the beauty of the film as a whole. I do appreciate it but what I don't want is an hour of rich details and pretty pictures. I can go to an art gallery for that.

It is the kind of movie that braodsheet newspapers and pretentious people who want to impress their friends will heap praise upon and call it a masterpiece and the best things ever to come out of Italy. I say it's dull, ponderous and self important and gave me nothing but a numb bum.

There is one particular scene in which the son discovers the truth about what has been going on between his mother and the chef...by looking at a bowl of soup. This brought howls of laughter from the audience I saw it with, it is that pretentious.

I'm only giving the film 2 stars on the grounds that Swinton is incredible and it does look lovely. Take those two elements away and it would have got no stars at all. Boring.