A Bigger Splash

Matthias Schoenaerts and Tilda Swinton in A Bigger Splash

Luca Guadagnino's A Bigger Splash reunites him with his I am Love star Tilda Swinton who plays a rock star recovering from throat surgery on the isle of Pantelleria, midway between Sicily and Tunisia. She is with her younger lover, up and coming Belgian thesp Mattias Schoenaerts, and they bide their time making love and lolling naked by the pool. Their idyll is ruptured by the arrival of Ralph Fiennes, a former squeeze of Swinton who brings a young cookie (Dakota Johnson) in tow that he claims is his daughter. Erotic intrigue supposedly commences. 

The Fiennes character is the nexus of the film. It's a showy role of a charismatic showbiz hustler whose manic energy barely disguises his desperation. The backstory of his character and Swinton's relationship is told (somewhat) in flashbacks and we learn Fiennes urged Schoenaerts to pursue Swinton after she dumped Fiennes. However, Fiennes is not over Swinton and seems to be using his "daughter" as bait to lure Schoenaerts away.

Swinton is superb, alternately regal and vulnerable. Fiennes lacks the charisma to light up his role. Accordingly, the erotic fireworks fizzle. He does have a saturnine quality that is good for villainy, but overdoes his character's neediness. His character seems more irritating than intriguing. Schoenaerts is good in an underwritten part, but Johnson is an unconvincing vamp. Her presence reminds me of one of my favorite recent film reviews. My mother-in-law on Fifty Shades of Grey: "He's sick and she's stupid."

Guadagnino gets some nice color out of Pantelleria, but whiffs badly interjecting a refugee subplot. The film is an intermittently entertaining diversion, but lacks suspense and invention. (9/16/16)