Where to begin with the sumptuous feast that is I Am Love, the latest collaboration between queer audience favorite Tilda Swinton and Italian writer-director Luca Guadagnino? You will pardon all the forthcoming metaphors but when confronted with the rare film that successfully combines so many ingredients that appeal to all the senses in the process—not to mention one whose central premise hinges on the leading character being dumbstruck by love after eating a dish of prawns—the result is a cinematic repast so delicious that one can only stand back in awe at its sheer artistry and hail it as a masterpiece.
Swinton plays Emma Recchi, a Russian émigré who long ago married into a wealthy Italian industrial family based in Milan and mother of three adult children. But the family is in the midst of change. At the outset of the film, during a lavish birthday party sequence in his honor the elderly grandfather and head of the family business names both Emma's stern husband, Tancredi ( Pippo Delbono ) , and her youngest son, the artistically inclined Edoardo ( Flavio Parenti ) , as his successors. As the party is concluding Edo briefly introduces his mother to his new friend, a chef named Antonio ( Edoardo Gabbriellini ) , with whom he wants to start a restaurant.
Months later, Emma accidentally discovers a note from her daughter Elisabetta ( Alba Rohrwacher ) to Edo in which she confesses she's fallen in love with a woman. Eventually, this emboldens Emma to embark on her own personal journey back to love—sparked by an unexpected ( and sensually recorded ) love affair with the decidedly hunky, enigmatic Antonio. But soon tragedy interrupts the lives of all the characters in Guadagnino's operatic-like scenario which builds to an intensely dramatic ending that features a magnificent requiem to love presented over the end credits.
Swinton, in her stylish, color-coded, couture wardrobe ( you will never forget her orange dress and later, orange pants ) , is a marvel playing her entire role in Russian-accented Italian. ( Take that, Meryl. ) The sweeping visuals and melodrama on screen ( conveyed with character details rather than talky dialogue ) are perfectly complimented by the director's judicious use of selections by John Adams, the dean of modern composers—especially in a pseudo chase/stalking scene between Emma and Antonio in which she wears the Kim Novak Vertigo knot in her hair.
There are nods to dozens of other films and filmmakers but the familial passions and sweeping visual palette of Visconti, the outsized emotions trapped beneath the luxurious lifestyles by the characters of Sirk and the hyper, artificial stylization; control; and sexual gender-bending of Hitchcock are the most prominent. Guadagnino acknowledges these classic masters of cinema and, in the process, creates one of his own.
My only regret about I Am Love was seeing it come to an end—especially in light of the news that director Guadagnino once contemplated releasing a three-and-a-half-hour cut of his astounding film ( "astounding" is the proper adjective to describe it, I think ) . But even at two hours this is a gorgeous, sensual, epic-sized exercise in cinema sophistication that heralds the arrival of a major talent in Guadagnino and another notch in the heady resume of Swinton.
When I Am Love finishes its theatrical run they should commit this fabulous movie to canvas and exhibit it in an art museum.
Film notes:
—The moving, lesbian-themed drama Hannah Free—by the award-winning out playwright ( and now screenwriter ) Claudia Allen and starring Sharon Gless of Burn Notice, Nip/Tuck, Queer As Folk and Cagney & Lacey fame—was released on DVD June 22 by Wolfe Video. The locally made film, which was executive-produced by Windy City Times Publisher Tracy Baim, was a big hit on the LGBT festival circuit and played in more than 70 cities worldwide. Among the entertaining special features are lengthy individual interviews with Gless and Allen ( and a third with them together ) ; a behind-the-scenes making-of featurette with cast and crew ( including footage from the movie's closing-night slot at San Francisco's Frameline fest with special guest Rosie O'Donnell ) ; outtake and blooper reels; production stills and marketing materials; and an informative background segment produced during the shoot featured on the "Chicago Tonight" news program.
Gless will be in town Pride Weekend to attend a celebratory DVD release party for the film Saturday, June 26, 12-2 p.m., at the Palmer House Hilton, 17 E. Monroe. Tickets are $50 and include a copy of the DVD; the new Hannah Free novel from Bella Books ( with photos from the movie ) ; hors d'oeuvres; and a chance to mingle with Gless and her fellow cast and crew members. Further info and tickets are at www.hannahfree.com .
Later that same evening, also at the Palmer House Hilton, Gless will be honored by the Lesbian and Gay Police Association-Gay Officers Action League of Chicago with their "Bridge to Unity" award. Tickets are $100 with tables of 10 available for $1,000. Lambda Legal client Janice Langbehn, whose separation from her dying partner while on a vacation in Florida with the couple's children inspired President Obama to push for equal access for gay partners during hospital visits, will also be a special guest at the event. Tickets and further info are at www.goalchicago.info/banquet
—June 22 also marked the anniversary of gay icon Judy Garland's 1969 death. To honor Garland, Warner Home Video is releasing a remastered version of 1954's A Star Is Born on both Blu-ray and a two-disc DVD edition. In the film Garland gives a tour-de-force, Oscar-nominated performance—a performance that was carefully guided by gay director George Cukor. For Garland completists, the special features—more than four hours worth—are worth the upgrade in either format alone. For the uninitiated, the movie is that rarity in movie musicals—an entertaining, deeply emotional, sophisticated songfest for adults and after viewing the picture ( which also contains a tremendous performance by James Mason ) , you will understand Groucho Marx's telegram to Garland the day after losing the Oscar: "This is the greatest robbery since Brinks." It remains the Academy's greatest oversight.
—Showgirls, celebrating its 15th anniversary, is also now out on Blu-ray. This tawdry but endlessly hilarious variation on many showbiz films ( including A Star Is Born and All About Eve ) about competing showgirls in Vegas is fabulously dreadful and never less than a good time, and was an instant edition to the camp canon upon its release.
—Why Us? Left Behind and Dying, a sobering feature-length documentary from filmmaker Claudia Pryor Malis about the epidemic spread of HIV/AIDS in the African-American community as explored by a small group of Black inner-city high school students, is now out on DVD. Both a single-disc, consumer version and a two-disc set for educators are available. See www.whyusmovie.com .
—Reminder: The Anita Davis Dance Theater Group presents the world premiere of the Black, lesbian-themed feature Genderblind—written, directed and produced by LaNita Joseph—June 25-26 at the Portage Theatre, 4050 N. Milwaukee. Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame member Pat McCombs wil host a red-carpet event. Tickets are $15 in advance for general admission, $20 for VIP. Food, cash bar and a DJ are part of the festivities. Windy City Media Group is a sponsor of the event. Tickets and further information at www.genderblind.eventbrite.com
Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitytimes.com or www.knightatthemovies.com . Readers can leave feedback at the latter website.
