Directed by : Luca Guadagnino
Written by : David Kajganich, Alain Page
Starring : Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Dakota Johnson
Release Date : November 26, 2015
If there's one reason to watch "A Bigger Splash," it's to see Ralph Fiennes act in such an over the top, energetic, and unbelievably full of life role as music producer Harry Hawkes. If you need a second reason, see this for Tilda Swinton as world famous singer Marianne Lane, who had a recent throat operation and can't really talk. There's a third reason too, which is Matthias Schoenaerts as Paul De Smedt, the hunky boyfriend of Marianne, trying to tolerate their overbearing vacation crashers, while still recovering from a painful past incident. You need a fourth reason? There's Dakota Johnson as Penelope Lannier, the estranged young daughter of Harry, who is there to be enigmatic and seductive.
These cast of actors are really the main draw to watch this movie, which is inspired by the 1969 film "La Piscine," because the story itself is rather slow moving, in a languid pace, with the main crux of the plot being this underlying love triangle that involves Marianne, who is in a relationship with Paul, but used to be in a relationship with his mentor Harry. Then add in Penelope who likes to push people's buttons, and you've got a powder keg that's ready to explode. The series of superficial and hedonistic scenes may turn off audiences, but the erotic and sexual tension might be enough to turn on people to keep watching.
On the subject of watching, visually, this film is amazing. The backdrop of a paradise home in the Italian island of Pantelleria is an incredible setting that's nice to look at. The different creative camera angles, and the seemingly innocuous choices of visual shots, that are used in this movie can be quite fascinating to see as well. The locations and characters are just mesmerizing to watch here, that it can be easy to just get lost in the movie purely on a visual stand point. On the audio side of things, rock and roll music and in particular the Rolling Stones does play an important part of the movie's feel as well.
Although the plot of "A Bigger Splash" may seem to be aimless, there are in fact underlying themes and social commentary to consider, which then goes with the character studies of the people featured in this movie. This may not be a film for everybody, but there is definitely something that it's saying. You just may not care what that is.
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