Io sono l’amore (2009)

Directed by: Luca Guadagnino | 120 minutes | drama | Actors: Tilda Swinton, Flavio Parenti, Edoardo Gabbriellini, Alba Rohrwacher, Pippo Delbono, Diane Fleri, Maria Paiato, Marisa Berenson, Waris Ahluwalia, Gabriele Ferzetti, Martina Codecasa, Mattia Zaccaro

The Italian drama ‘Io sono l’amore’ goes in search of lost times. The film is set in the milieu of the Italian industrial nobility, an environment where time seems to have stood still. Here we find people who do not talk but converse, do not taste but savor, do not eat dinner but have supper. The film’s focal point is the beautiful Emma, ​​a Russian emigrant who over time has become detached from her roots and become a stranger to herself. Her love for the young Antonio soothes nostalgia for the past, but is a time bomb among the disintegrating family.

This classic story (Bovary, Chatterley) makes for a timeless film that relies on visual splendor and acting talent. The photography is at once conventional and original, with a tour of the Milan Cathedral and an exciting lovemaking in the green grass as highlights. The black-and-white images during the opening credits – Milan in a heavy snow shower – are atmospheric and eye-pleasing. Photography carefully keeps contemporary elements out of the picture (mobile phones, computers, trendy clothing), which further reinforces the timelessness.

With Tilda Swinton, Marisa Berenson and Alba Rohrwacher, there’s not much that can go wrong when it comes to acting. In Italian aristocratic circles, reservedness is hidden under played casual manners. Thanks to Swinton’s subtle play, we see the outer layers crumble until we sympathize and sympathize with every trace of doubt, no matter how small. It’s unbelievable that this is the same actress who played a runaway alcoholic in ‘Julia’, a neurotic business person in ‘Michael Clayton’ and a dried up boatman in ‘Young Adam’.

It’s a shame that the film goes into overdrive in the last fifteen minutes. Every subtlety disappears, so that the emotional outbursts (enhanced by swelling music) largely kill. Implausible events lead to implausible outbursts of emotion that ensure that the already fragile connection with reality is broken.

However, this is no reason to let the film run. ‘Io sono l’amore’ offers an attractive sample of Italian culture: tasty dishes, monumental architecture, temperamental characters and the most beautiful color scheme in the world. And that bombastic final may not have been very successful, but it is very Italian.