The vacation of a famous rock star and a filmmaker is disrupted by the unexpected visit of an old friend and his daughter.
Storyline
In A BIGGER SPLASH, the lives of a high profile couple, a famous rock star and a filmmaker, (Tilda Swinton and Matthias Schoenaerts) vacationing and recovering on the idyllic sun-drenched and remote Italian island of Pantelleria are disrupted by the unexpected visit of an old friend and his daughter (Ralph Fiennes and Dakota Johnson) - creating a whirlwind of jealousy, passion and, ultimately, danger for everyone involved.User Reviews
While
she rests her voice after throat surgery, a David Bowie-esque rock
legend, Marianne (Tilda Swinton), and her documentary-filmmaker
boyfriend of 6 years, Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts), relax in the remote
Italian paradise of Pantelleria. Her record producer, mutual friend of
both and former flame of Marianne, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), brings his
estranged daughter, Penelope (Dakota Johnson), to spend time with the
couple and, mostly, interrupt the vacation. Tensions flare as Harry's
ulterior motives to steal Marianne back after having 'given her' to
Paul, while Penelope's relationships with her father and Paul come into
question. Jacques Deray adapted this story once before in his 1969 film
La Piscine, but Luca Guadagnino's 2015 iteration relies on its sharp
sense for revelations of secrets and lies to draw us into its narrative
and wrap us up in the impression of its characters. It works for the
most part, but largely due to the efforts of the talented, committed
cast.
It's films like A Bigger Splash that make us appreciate the
largely underserved Ralph Fiennes. He showed comic potential as another
Harry in In Bruges, and just last year his dry wit anchored the
ensemble cast of The Grand Budapest Hotel, but he's a riot in A Bigger
Splash. Having not seen any of Guadagnino's previous films, I wasn't
expecting this to be so playfully comedic at first as it initially
focuses on the awkwardness of the situation. Fortunately, as most of
this is sourced from Fiennes's boorish behavior, he absolutely radiates
off the screen, singing, dancing, and frequently stripping bare naked to
swim. While this wouldn't have gotten Oscar attention even if it were
still scheduled to release in 2015 with a more forgiving release
strategy, a consecutive Best Actor in a Comedy Golden Globe nomination
wouldn't have been out of the question, as Fiennes is hitting a new
stride this decade which, somewhere down the line, should equate to the
awards momentum he rode back in the 90s.
Tilda Swinton, an
equally reliable talent, nearly measures up to Fiennes, but her
character calls for a dialed-down approach that she's cut her teeth in
already. As her character recovers from throat surgery, she's a near
silent participant in most scenes, except when it's absolutely necessary
to whisper or in its few and admittedly unnecessary flashbacks, which
just paint what we already suspected rather than tell us anything new.
Even silently, the nuances on her face are expertly controlled and she
is the key to the balance of the heightened tone and raw emotion of the
film. Matthias Schoenaerts and Dakota Johnson, this decade's new kids in
town, are certainly out of their depth compared to Swinton and Fiennes.
While Schoenaerts appears convincingly irritated, he doesn't have the
conviction to hit the high notes his character requires later. Johnson
is firmly on the sidelines for the most part, but given a better film
than Fifty Shades of Grey, she's guilty of chewing on every juicy line
she gets to the point of indulgence. Both are mostly good, but notably
outshined by their experienced counterparts.
However solid its
cast may be, the film does struggle with a choppy edit. It's littered
with distracting continuity errors, unnecessary jump cuts and
unmotivated closeups and push-ins– the latter being mostly on delectable
food and, of course, pools of water, though this may just be flourishes
of Guadagnino's typical style. It captures the therapeutic atmosphere
of its environment, and with the frequent nudity by its main foursome,
the sensuality far outweighs the darkness that unfurrows in its latter
passages. It takes a big leap of faith in its third act but it mostly
suffers from a lack of conclusiveness than its thrills and tonal shift.
While the entangled web of these characters' pasts is intriguing and
engaging, it doesn't appear to have a consistent point to make outside
of the nature of temptation and recovery, two well travelled paths. A
Bigger Splash is ultimately a mixed bag of hits and misses, but it'll
find a passionate niche that will embrace it for its more tantalizing
sequences.
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