Um Mergulho No Passado

World famous singer Marianne Lane (Swinton), temporarily mute from a recent throat operation, is enjoying a relaxing holiday with her doting film-maker boyfriend Paul De Smedt (Schoenaerts) on a remote idyllic Italian island. Much to their initial annoyance, Lane's manic music producer and ex-boyfriend Harry Hawkes (Fiennes) turns up with his newly discovered daughter Penelope (Johnson) to gate- crash the tranquillity.

A Bigger Splash is a character development masterclass by Guadagnino. Over the first hour, the film gives everything to build up the intricacies of each character's attributes so that every subsequent variation and elaboration feels exhilarating. This is a film about people and relationships; how different associations can sometimes coalesce yet at other times grate, how secrets and history must awkwardly co-exist with the fantasies of perfection.

Fiennes is simply superb. He absolutely nails Hawkes extrovert nature, perfectly mixing it with the selfish dark underbelly which success invariably requires. Swinton marvellously continues to build her rapidly emerging reputation with a multifaceted character that says less than a hundred words throughout the entire running time. Both Schoenaerts and Johnson are solid but are unluckily eclipsed by Fiennes and Swinton's sparkle. In fact, such is Fiennes utter dominance early on, there feels a distinct possibility he will overshadow not only the other actors, but the film itself. Fortunately, as time passes the rest of the cast get their chance in the sun and, to their credit, pull it back just before it becomes the Ralph Fiennes Show.

The friction between De Smedt and Hawkes is always at the forefront; the protective grounded boyfriend against the vociferous music producer ex. Hawkes tempts Lane to speak at the dinner table, De Smedt knocks him back, Hawkes dances to a track he produced for the Rolling Stones, De Smedt pulls Lane closer on the sofa. It's the subtle fragments of both loving and sexual tension which keep the flow of A Bigger Splash so thrilling.

When the plot eventually makes its move, sides are taken, suspicions are rife, relationships are both strained and solidified. Only then do you realise just how well the film has branded its characters into your hide, and how desperate you are to know the outcome.

Until the last half hour or so not much really happens in A Bigger Splash but you simply don't notice, such is the utter delight in watching a great cast develop complex characters with a wonderfully astute script.

While she rests her voice after throat surgery, a David Bowie-esque rock legend, Marianne (Tilda Swinton), and her documentary-filmmaker boyfriend of 6 years, Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts), relax in the remote Italian paradise of Pantelleria. Her record producer, mutual friend of both and former flame of Marianne, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), brings his estranged daughter, Penelope (Dakota Johnson), to spend time with the couple and, mostly, interrupt the vacation. Tensions flare as Harry's ulterior motives to steal Marianne back after having 'given her' to Paul, while Penelope's relationships with her father and Paul come into question. Jacques Deray adapted this story once before in his 1969 film La Piscine, but Luca Guadagnino's 2015 iteration relies on its sharp sense for revelations of secrets and lies to draw us into its narrative and wrap us up in the impression of its characters. It works for the most part, but largely due to the efforts of the talented, committed cast.

It's films like A Bigger Splash that make us appreciate the largely underserved Ralph Fiennes. He showed comic potential as another Harry in In Bruges, and just last year his dry wit anchored the ensemble cast of The Grand Budapest Hotel, but he's a riot in A Bigger Splash. Having not seen any of Guadagnino's previous films, I wasn't expecting this to be so playfully comedic at first as it initially focuses on the awkwardness of the situation. Fortunately, as most of this is sourced from Fiennes's boorish behavior, he absolutely radiates off the screen, singing, dancing, and frequently stripping bare naked to swim. While this wouldn't have gotten Oscar attention even if it were still scheduled to release in 2015 with a more forgiving release strategy, a consecutive Best Actor in a Comedy Golden Globe nomination wouldn't have been out of the question, as Fiennes is hitting a new stride this decade which, somewhere down the line, should equate to the awards momentum he rode back in the 90s.

Tilda Swinton, an equally reliable talent, nearly measures up to Fiennes, but her character calls for a dialed-down approach that she's cut her teeth in already. As her character recovers from throat surgery, she's a near silent participant in most scenes, except when it's absolutely necessary to whisper or in its few and admittedly unnecessary flashbacks, which just paint what we already suspected rather than tell us anything new. Even silently, the nuances on her face are expertly controlled and she is the key to the balance of the heightened tone and raw emotion of the film. Matthias Schoenaerts and Dakota Johnson, this decade's new kids in town, are certainly out of their depth compared to Swinton and Fiennes. While Schoenaerts appears convincingly irritated, he doesn't have the conviction to hit the high notes his character requires later. Johnson is firmly on the sidelines for the most part, but given a better film than Fifty Shades of Grey, she's guilty of chewing on every juicy line she gets to the point of indulgence. Both are mostly good, but notably outshined by their experienced counterparts.

However solid its cast may be, the film does struggle with a choppy edit. It's littered with distracting continuity errors, unnecessary jump cuts and unmotivated closeups and push-ins– the latter being mostly on delectable food and, of course, pools of water, though this may just be flourishes of Guadagnino's typical style. It captures the therapeutic atmosphere of its environment, and with the frequent nudity by its main foursome, the sensuality far outweighs the darkness that unfurrows in its latter passages. It takes a big leap of faith in its third act but it mostly suffers from a lack of conclusiveness than its thrills and tonal shift. While the entangled web of these characters' pasts is intriguing and engaging, it doesn't appear to have a consistent point to make outside of the nature of temptation and recovery, two well travelled paths. A Bigger Splash is ultimately a mixed bag of hits and misses, but it'll find a passionate niche that will embrace it for its more tantalizing sequences.

7/10

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'A Bigger Splash' (2015) is a remake of a film ('La Piscine' - directed by Jacques Deray based on a novel by Alain Page) that is remembered today mainly because of the presence on the screen of the couple Alain Delon - Romy Schneider. Since then, a few more films have been added to the 'swimming pool drama' genre. The version created by the Italian director Luca Guadagnino is different in that it does not completely isolate the sentimental conflicts of the characters and the blue waters of the pool from the world around. We are in the years when the crisis of migrants making their way across the Mediterranean was at its peak. The Italian island where the story is set is in the middle of this tumult, which will also influence, despite them, the destinies of the characters.

Marianne is a famous rock singer who is recovering from a throat surgery that may damage her vocal cords, due to which doctors have advised her not to use her voice for a while. Together with Paul, her boyfriend, a documentary films director, they chose the villa on this island to isolate themselves from the world. Their plan is upended when Harry, a hysterical extroverted music producer, shows up, accompanied by his young beauty daughter Penelope. Harry is Paul's best friend and Marianne's ex-lover. He seems uncaring and morally corrupt, willing to drag everyone else around him into his self-centered machinations. The attempt to renew the connection with Marianne is at first met with a refusal, but the man insists. Meanwhile, some kind of relationship seems to be forming between Paul and Penelope. But something will happen and the erotic drama is in danger of sliding towards tragedy.

The screenplay is a bit unbalanced, in the sense that more than half of the film we witness the far too thorough and too patient construction of a drama that unfolds too late. With less than half the time available, the second part, which had become interesting, seems to be headed for an ending that some found problematic (not me). The cast is stellar. Tilda Swinton has a very interesting role precisely because she is limited in her ability to speak. A professional of voice, both in the story in the film and as an actress, she is obliged to use solely the expressiveness of her figure and body and succeeds in creating a memorable role. Ralph Fiennes thickens Harry's features a bit, but in the end his character is credible and interacts well with his partners. Matthias Schoenaerts is a bit too low-key as Paul. Maybe it was the directorial indications, but my feeling was that the character played by him is not fully revealed. Rounding out the cast is Dakota Johnson as Penelope. She also leaves some open questions about her character, but here the mystery is clearly intentional and belongs in the script. I also liked the cinematography created by Yorick Le Saux - spectacular, but without stepping into the realm of tourist ads. On the contrary, the camera manages to capture glimpses of the real world, indifferent to the conflicts that take place in the villas of the rich and too busy with the real dramas to care about the possible dramas that take place in or around the swimming pools.

The peace and tranquility of a rock star recovering from throat surgery and her documentarian boyfriend is shattered by a visit from the musician's former lover and his estranged adult daughter in this unusual film. Tension hangs in the air throughout with much unannounced but pronounced animosity between the characters. Ralph Fiennes is simply electric as the unwanted guest, oblivious to his intrusion (not to mention the disturbance he causes by constantly walking around nude), while Tilda Swinton is solid in a challenging role that forces her to emote without talking above a whisper. Intriguing as all this might sound though, it adds up to precious little. There are a lot of zooms-in and out that call attention to themselves without discernible purpose. The daughter's motives are also elusive throughout without any explanation; she acts with hostility towards Swinton, for instance, simply for the sake of it. That said, the plot takes a sharp turn in the final 35 minutes with a twist that causes us to view three of the characters in a different light. For a two-hour film though, such a twist comes late in the piece and with an inconclusive ending too, it is hard to hone in on what the point of the film is (outside of the notion that the Italian police are competent). For Fiennes, Swinton, some great costumes and several breathtaking locations, 'A Bigger Splash' is worth watching, but is that alone enough?

The getaway-retreat scenario is a common film device for creating a chaotic crossroad where divergent character types can bring their shady pasts, chronic problems and deviant desires. It works well in the melodrama genre because people act differently when brought together, especially in a luxurious or exotic location where they can let go and be who they really are: recent examples include Youth (2015) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). A Bigger Splash (2016) does this using a beautiful Sicilian hillside villa with a prominent pool for baring bodies and souls. To keep the plot line taut there are only four actors who play out in two pairs and the chemistry is anything but harmonious.

An almost silent Marianne (played by Tilda Swinton) is a once-famous rock star who is recuperating from throat surgery with her former alcoholic boyfriend Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts). They couple happily all over the villa until her extroverted and still-hungry former flame Harry (Ralph Fiennes) suddenly turns up with his sullen and sultry teenage daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson). The tension lines appear quickly and the dynamics morph seamlessly towards an erotic thriller. Harry and daughter are overly physical with each other, Paul is derailed by the teenager's libido, Marianne dabbles with forbidden fruit, while the men circle each other with malice. Harry's use of his daughter as bait turns out to make him the catch while the beautifully photographed Sicilian landscape dwarfs four small lives and the mess they create.

All of the actors deserve accolades but Fiennes stands out for his ability to plausibly and expressively switch from manic exuberance to emotional vulnerability. He drives the story forward both narratively and as its primary entertainer. Swinton and Johnson are perfect for their respective positions on the femme fatale spectrum, and Schoenaerts captures what many will say is the most complex role of this story. With fine acting, classic landscape photography, a great soundtrack, and an engaging story to tell, one would expect that the whole would be greater than the sum of its parts. But this circular tale simply leads back to where it starts and leaves a vague feeling they have not gone far. As with so many films, it will be judged on its final moments.