Review: I Am Love

Review: I Am Love (Io sono l'amore)

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 81%

Suddenly this summer. a terrific film. Tilda Swinton has a lock on an Oscar nomination -- and she does it in Italian and Russian. In this film, she plays Emma, the Russian wife of a rich Milanese textile manufacturer. She has three grown children, but we're told little of her earlier life or her present state of mind. Through her nuanced and subtle performance, however, and scenes of a family gathering early in the movie, we learn all we need to know and fill in the blanks ourselves: Emma has given her life and her very identity to her husband and his family. She dissolves into the corners of her stunning, but cold, Milanese villa.

After she meets and begins an affair with her son's friend, Antonio, her life and her world open to color and sensuality. The rest of the story surprises, complemented by stunning cinematography and sophisticated editing. Not to be missed.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price

$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it