Io sono l'amore, 2009

There are probably few actresses out there with the range Tilda Swinton has. In "Orlando" she played an aristocrat who lives for several centuries, changing genders halfway through. In "Michael Clayton", she played an anxious and malicious representative of a company promoting a poisonous product. Now in "I am Love" she plays a Russian immigrant, Emma, living in Italy, a housewife to an aristocratic family. She lives in a large, large house where there are many rooms and doors, possibly leading to parts she's never been in. Her husband inherits his father's prosperous factory, and he starts leaving for business trips to London. Her daughter, Elisabetta, comes out as a lesbian, and this in many ways inspires Emma to reevaluate her own life. Her eldest son, Edo, meets and befriends a chef who he wants to open a restaurant with. The chef's name is Antonio, and immediately when Emma meets him, sparks fly. Her first realization of love for him, when she tries his food, reminded me of the wonderful Mexican film, "Like Water for Chocolate", where the heroine transcends her passion to others through her cooking. The two begin an affair, that leads to tragedy in the end. There are many elements in this film that make it quite enjoyable to watch. First there is Tilda Swinton's performance. She really gives a feeling like no other, convincingly playing a Russian woman lost in a foreign country that is forced to be her new home. She lovingly and brilliantly displays a repressed passion that is released when she meets this young man. And when it is released, it is absolutely magical. The music and camera work also play characters in the movie, following and guiding Emma through this passionate, tragic, and ultimately liberating and redemptive odyssey. While all of that works very well, the film somehow still left me a little cold. I felt I had seen this story before and that it really was not saying anything new about repressed passion and a longing to be free of bondage. As I mentioned before, this film reminded me a lot of "Like Water for Chocolate", which dealt with very similar themes. But that film was much more provocative in showing two people madly in love with each other. Here, Emma really could have fallen for anybody; there is no scene that really shows that she and Antonio have much to say to one other, nor do we really see them having much of a life together. Despite these reservations, "I am Love" is a beautiful looking film that shows Swinton at her very finest.

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