Interview: I Am Loves’s Tilda Swinton

Tilda Swinton is as commanding in person as she is on screen. Her poise instantly attracts all attention and her passion for her work is overwhelmingly present in her answer to even the simplest question. However, there’s nothing simple about I Am Love. Not only has the project been in the works for over a decade, but the final product is oozing with a lavish and classical complexity we rarely see nowadays.

The film stars Swinton as Emma, a Russian native who moves to Milan to be with her textile tycoon husband. She has three grown children and resides in a lush mansion run by a devoted wait staff, with a wardrobe filled with the finest fashion. Most would consider this a privilege, but in Emma’s case, it becomes more of a prison. With her children living their own lives and husband always working, she’s often left to herself. She has all of the riches in the world, but no one to share them with. That all changes when her son introduces her to his new friend, Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini), a chef, a man with the ability to rouse a powerful sensation within Emma through his tasty delicacies, as well his presence.

I Am Love leaves the viewer with many questions and that’s exactly how the filmmakers wanted it. Everything from the message of the film to the characters’ fate is left to the moviegoer’s interpretation. But, of course, during our roundtable interview, Swinton was eager to elaborate on a range of topics including the inspiration for the piece, the thought put into the costume selection and much more.

Click here to read the interview.

Interview: I Am Love Director Luca Guadagnino

We see big budget films put on the fast track and make swift entrances into the theater all the time, but that was certainly not the case with director Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love. The piece took over a decade to complete and the effects of the prolonged thought and development is profound. Even in the midst of a summer packed with explosive blockbusters, I Am Love’s exquisite classical and operatic nature is as bold as ever.

The film is about a wealthy family living in Milan, but the focus is on Emma (Tilda Swinton), the wife of a textile tycoon and mother of three grown children. With all of her loved ones hard at work or away at school, Emma is left to her lonesome in their lavish estate with the exception of their attentive wait staff. Her yearning for more is answered by a friend of her eldest son, a chef named Antonio. All it takes is a delectable shrimp dish to entice Emma to act on her feelings and indulge in her desire, Antonio.

The story is powerful, but there was so much more on Guadagnino’s mind when constructing I Am Love than simply telling of a forbidden romance. Check out all of the details about Guadagnino’s 7-year collaboration with Swinton on this one project (or 11-year collaboration as Swinton would say), his unique method to incorporating a John Adams score and much more in the video interview below.

Click here to watch the interview.

Review: I Am Love

If you’re itching for a summer blockbuster packed with explosions, car chases and superheroes, look elsewhere because I Am Love is far from that. In fact, it’s far from anything that’s graced the theaters in quite a while. Writer-director Luca Guadagnino indulges the viewer with a grandiose family drama packed with rich scenery, stirring performances and comprehensive camerawork – if only the rest wasn’t so boring.

Meet the Recchis, a wealthy family living in Milan. They’ve got everything they could want–a lavish mansion, loyal wait staff, any material possession their heart desires–yet each struggles with a pain money cannot assuage. The family patriarch, Edoardo Recchi Sr. (Gabriele Ferzetti), is nearing the end of his life and decides to pass along the family textile business to his son, Tancredi (Pippo Delbono). Tancredi’s oldest son, Edoardo Jr. (Flavio Parenti), is awarded equal control but his younger brother, Gianluca (Mattia Zaccaro), is left out of the deal entirely. Complicating matters further, Tancredi plans to sell the business, which upsets Edo Jr. who values the family tradition.

Click here to read more.