Think big. Tilda Swinton does Mildred Pierce in this Italian melodrama concerning marital infidelities, familial tensions and the decline of a once great family. Unbridled doesn’t even begin to cover it. From director Luca Guadigno’s lush visuals – think The Leopard with a Terence Malick wash – to the soaring John Adam’s score, this is dark dining sensuality, an abseiling rush, a night out in Amsterdam.
This luscious experience begins at a grand birthday party for the patriarch (Gabriele Ferzetti) of the indecently wealthy and powerful Recchi family. Somewhat laid low by age and illness, he announces that he is passing the business on to his son Tancredi (Pippo Delbono) and – a surprise this -- his grandson Edoardo (Flavio Parenti). Understandably enough, the decision sparks tension and confusion in the family. Even the clan’s unflappable Milanese matriarch (Marisa Berenson, and she’s still got it) looks put out. There are other children: a boy named Gianluca (Mattia Zaccaro) and a girl called Elizabeth (Alba Rohrwacher), who, as the film progresses, is revealed to be a lesbian.
The main action is, however, focussed on the retiring mogul’s younger wife, a Russian émigré, who has left her old life far behind. After various melodramatic turns, Emma (Tilda Swinton) encounters Edoardo’s business partner and begins a torrid relationship. The relationship proves to be a poison that will eat away at the rotten roots of the Recchi family and liberate its heroine.
They don’t make ‘em like this anymore? How come?