I Am Love

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There has been a buzz surrounding I Am Love for the past few months, a romantic melodrama about a search for one's identity and what one would do once it is found. What it's really about, however, is that personal happiness far outweighs the happiness of one's family.

Swinton plays Emma, a Russian woman who met Tancredi (Delbono), the son of a wealthy industrialist, and was whisked away to Italy and immersed in a fabulous life. As I Am Love opens, Emma has been a part of that life for so long she's almost forgotten who she really is - "When I moved to Milan, I stopped being Russian" - but when she meets Antonio (Gabbriellini), a talented chef and close friend of Emma's son Edoardo (Parenti), it ignites a passion in her that has been lost for this long time.

If you're willing to be swept along with Swinton's performance, the luscious scenery, majestic buildings, striking colours and beautiful score, there's a lot to like about I Am Love. Guadagnino knows where to point the camera and the beauty of the Italian countryside and the stunning city locations are hungrily gobbled up by the audience's grateful eyes. The ending is worth sticking around for as Guadagnino realises that whatever he has written can't compare to John Adams' score and lets the music take over. It's a good decision. A bad decision is including a hard-to-make-out shot smack in the middle of the end credits - is Guadagnino attempting a Michael Haneke ambiguous post-climax shot?

If you're unwilling to root for a woman who has had everything (material wise) and is ready to turn her back on her husband and children, then I Am Love becomes difficult to swallow. Emma's family has also suffered a horrific tragedy and her daughter fears that her family might ostracise her because of her lesbianism and needs her understanding mother to stick around. The film though is firmly on the side of Emma. The argument is that her husband isn't a loving man, but this isn't followed through on; he doesn't seem like a bad guy, just a little uptight. Emma isn't allowed to be herself, sure, but since the audience isn't privy to who or what she used to be, sympathy for her 'plight' wanes. The director can be accused of overdoing it from time to time too: during a scene where Emma and Antonio give in to their passion in a typically scenic field, Guadagnino perpetually cuts between their love-making and flowers and bees, all signifying their oneness with nature. An arthouse cliché?

Despite these misgivings and a lack of understanding for her character's motives, Tilda Swinton has never been better. A performance so perfect, this reviewer was almost won over. Almost.