Emma Chooses Life

2010-10_23 Emma Chooses Life
As an actress, Tilda Swindon is money in the bank: She never appears in bad movies. “I Am Love “is her latest success.
It has an opening sequence that is remarkable. It is of Christmastime Birthday party for the elderly Patriarch of the Recchi family, the head of a very successful textile business in Milan, Italy. It is a scene of various members of the family arriving at Trancredi Recchi’s palatial home, the oldest son of the Patriarch who is married the Emma (Tilda Swindon) who is busy seeing to the kitchen staff that the preparations for the dinner come off as planned. From the start we observe that Emma is an adjunct to this Italian family, as her Russian background has been buried under the gloss of her adopted Italian language and culture. She maintains a mask of polite and civil engagement with all members of the family, keeping a discreet, unrevealing distance from intimate connection. Her closet ally in her own home is the Servant Supervisor, Ida. Inside she knows she’s the outsider in this crowd, but at the same time she doesn’t want to make waves. She bites the bullet and makes due with her life as is. But to return to the longish opening scene is the fact it is not only beautifully photographed, it is exquisitely edited, being one of the smoothest flows of images I have ever had the pleasure to experience. And it fits with the picture-perfect harmony that seems to be at the heart of this rich Milanese clan. Form dovetails with content, effortlessly.
Unbeknownst to those at this lavish banquet for the patriarch he has a special announcement to make. When he arrived we get a good preview of his status with the three generations present. He is treated with utmost respect and affection, indeed, you wonder why they don’t genuflect or kiss his ring. You can’t help but notice there is something Old World about the hierarchy to this family, as if they are a throwback to a previous time. One thinks they resemble a 19th century family untouched by the stress and turmoil of modernity. But as we all know looks can be deceiving. This harmonious prelude hides some dissension and unhappiness. The announcement the Elder Recchi is making is he retiring—in fact, he’ll be dead in less than six months—and naming his eldest son, Trancredi, the new CEO and his grandson Edo, a CEO in training. He salutes Trancredi as a loyal son (“all that a father could want”) and solid businessman. Everyone sits unmoved by his choices; there are undercurrents but they remain mute.
As I watched this scene unfold, I couldn’t help but flash on two previous movies of similar character and substance. The first that came to mind is “The Leopard,” the 1963 movie directed by Luchino Visconti. Like “I Am Love” the earlier movie was a multigenerational spectacle, but this time dealing with 19th century Sicilian aristocracy, with Burt Lancaster playing the role of the family patriarch who realizes his class, privileges, and life-purpose are fading as modernity begins to move forward crowding his way of life to the sidelines. “I Am Love” deals with a self-made aristocrat and his progeny, a capitalist success story, but they all have pretentions that parallel the Sicilian’s style and modus vivendi. New York Times movie critic, Manohla Dargis called the polish and pose “postclassical Hollywood Baroque.” There is the same august tone, the self-conscious elegance, the stress on appearances, and the adoration of the patriarch. And to finalize this connection between the two films there is the fact that Alain Delon’s character in “The Leopard” was also named Trancredi, the same name as the oldest son of the Patriarch in ‘‘I Am Love.” The new film is clearly homage to Visconti’s, which obviously deeply influenced Luca Guadagino, the Director of “I Am Love.” The second film I thought of was Luis Bunel’s 1972 “Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.” That film was a mocking tribute to the Dinner Party that was so loved by the Bourgeoisie, which they treat almost like a secular mass, allowing them to glory in their affluence and self-importance.
The middle section of the film deals with Edo and his girl friend—they get married and at the end of the film she’s pregnant—and his developing relationship with his new friend Antonio the chef (Edodrado Gabbrielillni) who he wants to open a restaurant with as Antonio as co-owner and chief chef—he is a superb gourmet cook. But at the end of the middle section the story takes a dramatic turn. Emma finally emerges from her shell. Two things motivate it. First of all she reevaluates her own situation due to the fact her daughter Elizabetta has declared herself a Lesbian which flies in the face of the family values. Then she eats a shrimp dish prepared by Antonio and she goes off into an ecstatic reverie, something akin to an orgasm. When I saw her reaction I turned to my wife, who was watching the movie with me, and said, “By God, she’s falling for Antonio. The shrimp is acting like an aphrodisiac!”
And sure enough, on the pretense of showing her his garden in the hills he takes her there in his truck and before you can say whoopee three times they become lovers. They enter into what I would call a Laurencian interlude, where she becomes Connie and Antonio becomes Mellors, and they act out their version of LADY CHATTERLY’S LOVER. She experiences a passion she never knew or had forgotten about. She discards her fancy clothes and goes back to a tank top and shorts. She starts speaking in Russian again and brings her Russian name out of the closet. And like in the first sequence, Guadagino has the lovers photographed with form following content. The love scenes are gauzy and blurry; you see a breast, then a leg, and then a curve of a back and so on, like that. Meanwhile, the erotic ambience is heightened with flowers, buzzing insects and soft breezes through the fields, another touch that reminds of D.H. Lawrence. She sheds her Italian veneer. Antonio has not only helped her find her sensual center again, but also her integrity as a person.
But when she tells Edo what has happened he gets upset and trips near the swimming pool and hits his head. They take him to the hospital but he dies there. This tragic accident shatters the family harmony. Previously Edo had been upset when his father had sold the family business to a businessman in London. The family unity is broken and Trancredi tells Emma, “You no longer exist for me.” Utterly stricken and beyond the point of no return, she changes clothes and flees the property, pausing only to hug Ida and to see Elizabetta nod her approval to what she is about to do. The fact Antonio is twenty years younger than her is of no moment. The urgent thing is to escape. The fundamental truth in the situation is she has awakened and rejected her false self. She has become the self she knew herself to be.
The film has moved from a picture-perfect family celebrating its continuity and hold on business and success, to family dissension and an unexpected passion, and a death in the family which is the final wedge that drives Emma out the door. Nothing real comes without pain, but the important thing is and should be, “to your own self be true.”