A Bigger Splash

World famous singer Marianne Lane (Swinton), temporarily mute from a recent throat operation, is enjoying a relaxing holiday with her doting film-maker boyfriend Paul De Smedt (Schoenaerts) on a remote idyllic Italian island. Much to their initial annoyance, Lane's manic music producer and ex-boyfriend Harry Hawkes (Fiennes) turns up with his newly discovered daughter Penelope (Johnson) to gate- crash the tranquillity.

A Bigger Splash is a character development masterclass by Guadagnino. Over the first hour, the film gives everything to build up the intricacies of each character's attributes so that every subsequent variation and elaboration feels exhilarating. This is a film about people and relationships; how different associations can sometimes coalesce yet at other times grate, how secrets and history must awkwardly co-exist with the fantasies of perfection.

Fiennes is simply superb. He absolutely nails Hawkes extrovert nature, perfectly mixing it with the selfish dark underbelly which success invariably requires. Swinton marvellously continues to build her rapidly emerging reputation with a multifaceted character that says less than a hundred words throughout the entire running time. Both Schoenaerts and Johnson are solid but are unluckily eclipsed by Fiennes and Swinton's sparkle. In fact, such is Fiennes utter dominance early on, there feels a distinct possibility he will overshadow not only the other actors, but the film itself. Fortunately, as time passes the rest of the cast get their chance in the sun and, to their credit, pull it back just before it becomes the Ralph Fiennes Show.

The friction between De Smedt and Hawkes is always at the forefront; the protective grounded boyfriend against the vociferous music producer ex. Hawkes tempts Lane to speak at the dinner table, De Smedt knocks him back, Hawkes dances to a track he produced for the Rolling Stones, De Smedt pulls Lane closer on the sofa. It's the subtle fragments of both loving and sexual tension which keep the flow of A Bigger Splash so thrilling.

When the plot eventually makes its move, sides are taken, suspicions are rife, relationships are both strained and solidified. Only then do you realise just how well the film has branded its characters into your hide, and how desperate you are to know the outcome.

Until the last half hour or so not much really happens in A Bigger Splash but you simply don't notice, such is the utter delight in watching a great cast develop complex characters with a wonderfully astute script.

The peace and tranquility of a rock star recovering from throat surgery and her documentarian boyfriend is shattered by a visit from the musician's former lover and his estranged adult daughter in this unusual film. Tension hangs in the air throughout with much unannounced but pronounced animosity between the characters. Ralph Fiennes is simply electric as the unwanted guest, oblivious to his intrusion (not to mention the disturbance he causes by constantly walking around nude), while Tilda Swinton is solid in a challenging role that forces her to emote without talking above a whisper. Intriguing as all this might sound though, it adds up to precious little. There are a lot of zooms-in and out that call attention to themselves without discernible purpose. The daughter's motives are also elusive throughout without any explanation; she acts with hostility towards Swinton, for instance, simply for the sake of it. That said, the plot takes a sharp turn in the final 35 minutes with a twist that causes us to view three of the characters in a different light. For a two-hour film though, such a twist comes late in the piece and with an inconclusive ending too, it is hard to hone in on what the point of the film is (outside of the notion that the Italian police are competent). For Fiennes, Swinton, some great costumes and several breathtaking locations, 'A Bigger Splash' is worth watching, but is that alone enough?

I hadn't seen A Bigger Splash but after being dazzled by Call Me By Your Name, I rushed to find and see this Luca Guadagnino 2015 film and it confirmed without a doubt that Luca Guadagnino is a remarkable filmmaker with a retro eye and a futuristic sensibility. His elegance makes cinematic the most unpalatable of tales and this one, a four sided triangle, it's unpalatable and scrumptious all at the same time. Tilda Swinton is superb as the voiceless singer, Dakota Johnson gave me, for the first time, a glimpse into what she could be, Matthias Schoenaerts hits all the right notes even the most unexpected ones but Ralph Fiennes gives a performance that it hast to be seen to be believed mostly because this is the same actor in Schindler's List, Quiz Show, In Bruges and last year he provided me woth one of the funniest scenes of the year in Hail Caesar. So, as you must gather, I had a great time and I'll wait for the next Guadagnino with childish anticipation

The director's prior "I Am Love" ultimately transcended its more pretentious, arbitrary aspects with a certain feeling of epic emotionality. But this time around there isn't enough substance or originality in other departments to detract attention from how...well, pretentious and arbitrary many of his directorial choices are. To an extent there's interest in simply watching the well-cast stars go through their paces: Fiennes plays one of his most extroverted characters; Swinton has magnetism as usual in a contrasting figure (contrasting because her rock-star has to be silent while recovering from surgery--but a laughable flashback where she sings in a recording studio blows any belief that we're watching a credible musical talent); Schoenaerts is attractive and earnest; Johnson is good playing a petulant brat who uses her sexual allure in obvious (yet successful) ways. If you've ever wanted to see any of these actors full-frontal, here's your big chance, since there's a lot of nudity here that doesn't seem to exist for much reason beyond producing a "Look, s/he's taken it all off, too!" reaction.

But after a while you realize that as colorfully played as these figures are, none of them are drawn with enough depth to be genuinely interesting, and in fact they're largely annoying--to each other, and to us. It's predictable that the 2nd, vaguely incestuous "couple" who make an invasive surprise visit are going to disrupt the idyll and emotional security of the main couple who have hoped to escape just such company. It's predictable that there will be infidelity, and that sooner or later something violent is going to happen. Yet it's very hard to care about any of this.

That the director thinks his actors/characters are endlessly fascinating is obvious--otherwise why on Earth would he stage scenes like the one in which two of them invade a karaoke bar, and though neither of them can sing very well, we're supposed to believe they quickly have half the island populace raptly watching their performance? Judging from "I Am Love" and this, I've got to assume the director himself is a product of jet-setting wealth who automatically assumes the wealthy and privileged are special, fascinating creatures. Yet "Bigger Splash" inadvertently provides the truthful end to that sentence: "...only to each other."

In terms of image and editing, the film is flashy in often pointless, mannered ways that to my mind are neither beautiful or interesting...just show-offy and empty, the flourishes of a director who thinks flamboyant stylistic gestures = a true "artist," without worrying what they actually MEAN, if anything. (He's made a documentary about Bertolucci, and while the latter has certainly made some uneven, mannered work, he comes by instinctively everything that Guadagnino does in an imitative, pretentious way.) Of course, some will be taken in by it, since some people will always fall for Art that labels itself as such.

For all the talent it deploys, though, "Bigger Splash" is ultimately just a particularly pretentious variation on "erotic thriller" material, without much real tension, and certainly without any real substance. It's not terrible, but it's ultimately pretty trivial.

By the way, if you want a laugh, read Luca Guadagnino's Wikipedia bio. It's one of those Wiki entries that sounds like it was written by the subject (and/or his publicist), as it solemnly gushes over his "curiosity and passion for diverse artistic disciplines" including the company he founded that "conceives and implements luxury communications for luxury brands." I didn't know about THAT before, but it sure isn't surprising that he'd have a background in high-end advertising, the center of the universe for pretentious stylistic gestures about nothing.

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.

7/10

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