Reviews and Discussions of Cinema from Astoria, NYC

There’s just something about European films that American films will never have. They give such a straightforward and insightful look at emotions, love and sex. I suppose that’s why Tilda Swinton learned Italian and Russian to make this film, playing the Russian wife of a wealthy Italian–in order to portray raw emotion and show the power of love on film. I find that dedication to craft–learning two languages for one role– just amazing. She gives an extraordinary performance.

I also find the vision of the film amazing. The Europeans are masterful at examining human relationships; their films always focus on relationships and love as being the most important things in life. Hollywood favors love and romance as well, but not in the same way; it lacks the emotional vitality and honesty that European films have. The European in this case is director Luca Guadagnino, who has created a fantastic look at how love changes lives. Love destroys an entire family in this film and yet it also gives one woman life— it is triumphant. She chooses life.

This film is lushly shot, full of color and beauty, with attention to details like food, costumes, hairstyles, and surrounding locations, whether a city like Milan covered in silent snow, or a field in the country full of flowers being pollinated by bees as the lovers consummate their love in the midst of them. It also draws from Hitchcock and Visconti, among other cinematic masters, and feels old, as if it’s from another time, but yet is also very modern. It is timeless.

And the ending. Oh, the ending is thrilling– tragic and heartbreaking, but exhilarating. So full of emotion, and yet never cheap or over the top. The last major scene has fantastic camerawork, editing, and use of the amazing score to reveal an incredible climax to this astounding filmic experience.