Review | Film review: A Bigger Splash – Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes in sexually decadent Mediterranean drama
Four-way dynamics sizzle between a rock star, a documentary maker, a record producer ex-boyfriend and his daughter in this reboot of French cult film
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4/5 stars
Luca Guadagnino’s follow-up to his tremendous I Am Love is a sultry re-interpretation of La Piscine. Jacques Deray’s 1969 cult film starred Alain Delon, Romy Schneider and Jane Birkin, though Guadagnino’s cast is hardly shabby. Leading the line is his I Am Love star Tilda Swinton, who plays Marianne Lane, a faded rock star with a Bowie-like swagger, now nursing an operation on her vocal chords that has rendered her hoarse.
With Marianne recuperating with her documentary-filmmaker boyfriend Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts), the two are hiding out on the remote island of Pantelleria, a volcanic, dusty but undeniably evocative outcrop off the Italian coast. Arriving like a tornado is Marianne’s garrulous ex-boyfriend, record producer Harry (Ralph Fiennes), who has brought his young daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson) along for the ride.
As the third act unfolds, tragedy strikes – and the outcome is arguably less interesting than the sizzling four-way dynamic that preceded it. There’s also an odd scene involving migrants that feels out of place. But no doubt, Guadagnino is expert at conjuring a pungent, sexually decadent atmosphere – a ringmaster in full control of his circus.
A Bigger Splash opens on June 16
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