Luca Guadagnino’s latest film is a remake of Jacques Deray’s La Piscine. The story follows rock star Marianne Lane (the glorious Tilda Swinton) and her lover Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts). Marianne is recovering from throat surgery, so the happy couple have retreated away to their Italian holiday home where they laze, read, make love and swim in silent serenity. That is, until the arrival of their friend – and Marianne’s former lover and record producer – Harry Hawkes (Ralph Fiennes) and his newly discovered daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson). Harry is a naturally irritating man and tries his hardest to rattle as many cages as possible in his attempts to steal back Marianne’s affections, while Penelope aims for Paul.
There is much to like in this film. Firstly, the ensemble cast are simply terrific. Ralph Fiennes seems to be having a little renaissance at the moment, with some of his best work having come about in the last ten years. His formidable performance is funny, tragic, annoying, endearing, and energetic – proving once again that he is a dynamic screen presence to be reckoned with. Similarly, Tilda Swinton is utterly captivating in a largely silent performance that demonstrates all the subtlety and nuance of which she is capable. One of the greatest actors of our time, she is a delight to watch from start to finish. Matthias Schoenaerts gives perhaps his best performance to date as the subdued and slightly hulking Paul. His chemistry with Swinton is particularly moving, making it clear that his character struggles to communicate with anyone as much as he can with her. Perhaps the least interesting or developed character is that of Penelope, but Dakota Johnson gives her a truly menacing and seductive aura, punctuated by a very real vulnerability underlying it all.
Furthermore, the beautiful locations are shot wonderfully by Yorick Le Saux while Guadagnino is at his best when constructing powerful moments between his actors and silent montage sequences that tell the audience all they really need to know about what is going on. The director clearly trusts his material, his actors and his audience and takes the back seat in several sequences that are stand-out moments in the film. One scene in a karaoke bar is particularly mesmerising – a joyously indulgent romp that also demonstrates the shifting relationships between the characters and both the problematic and the likeable aspects of their personalities simultaneously.
Additionally, screenwriter David Kajganich offers some background commentary on the effects of the European refugee crisis in a cynical and intriguing way. In one telling scene, the characters interact with the reality of the refugees for the first time only to implicate the victims in a crime for their own benefit. Throughout the entire film, the wealthy and relatively unpleasant protagonists go about their business while a much bigger issue is pushed off screen by their egos. However, other than this simplistic – albeit satisfying – commentary on such people’s reaction to the crisis, its inclusion seems underdeveloped and almost random.
Indeed, this is not the only problem with the film. What begins as a frothy and engaging comedy loses its way in the final third and leaves a disappointing aftertaste that bitterly contrasts with the early promise and tonal warmth shown in the first half of the picture. This is partly because the film is bound by its source material but the plot twist is ill-realised and the shift from comedy to drama seems slightly jarring. In a way, this is beneficial as it mirrors the shock of the characters and narrative, but the nature of the event itself leaves the characters with no redeeming features and suggests that the honest ambivalence shown by the director towards them has become more hostile, making it hard for the audience to care about them either. There is little warmth in the final stages of the film and the characters become less engaging and more annoying as events progress. What begins as fun in the sun with some deliciously tense moments and the odd spot of black humour eventually declines into a muddled attempt at a more straightforward drama.
A Bigger Splash begins as refreshing, satirical, amusing and exciting and ends up hollow, indulgent and frustrating. It is certainly worth seeing and perhaps merits repeated viewings to allow for the full development of an opinion for, despite its disappointments, there is much to enjoy as well as ponder.
A Bigger Splash will be showing at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 25 February 2015.
A Bigger Splash Trailer
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