A Bigger Splash

It has been a long time since I have walked out of a movie feeling the way I did after seeing A Bigger Splash.  I turned to my friend and said “I think I just saw an important move, but I can’t quite tell you why I feel that.”  Noted critic Cristy Lemire described it thusly: “Simultaneously lush and lurid, sumptuous and startling, “A Bigger Splash” never goes where you expect, even as its undercurrent of danger is unmistakable from the start.”

The acting is for the most part superb.  Tilda Swinton, playing a character who can’t talk above a whisper because of an operation and who for the majority of the film does not talk at all (including a silent orgasm that the viewer cannot help but experience), gives forth with a preeminent performance.  I learned from an interview with Director Luca Guadagnino  that the script originally had dialogue for Swinton but that she insisted, for personal reasons, that she play it without talking.    Swinton explained that at that point in her life she just did not want to talk.  She had lost someone very close and had retreated some but she wanted to do the part.This becomes a wonderful example of how an actor can take their personal being of the time and make it work for their role.  Ralph Fiennes is the other special acting performance.  Matthias Schoenaerts and Dakota Fanning give respectable performances, fulfilling their characters well and believably.

The cinematography is so special.  With its many close-ups from a piece of fruit being peeled, to the bottom of feet and faces that talk with their eyes.  Just as exotic are the medium and long shots of people and the island.  There is a deftness in the camera work that is carried out with soft touches.  Many of the shots, while fitting the script, come as a surprise.  This adds to the excitement of watching an artist at work.

Nothing in this film is superfluous.  Everything in the mis-en-scéne is there for good reason.  The music plays a very integrated role in the story telling.

The one weak part of the film is the third act.  While meaning to be serious it has a comedic or farcical touch and ends up being unbelievable.  In the end it is hard to have any empathy for any of the four characters. Fiennes shouts at at Schoenaerts at one point “You just tolerate me. Do you know how insulting it is to know that your are “tolerated” by your friend?”    If you thought things were a little “sick” in the development they are more so at the conclusion.

As for themes, we experience love – found or lost – jealousy, false friendship, lust and self gratification in the process of using others. Oh did I mention sex and lots of nudity?.

I thought this was an important film because it involves several masters of their trade reaching outside of themselves.  It is a wonderful viewing experience.