A Bigger Splash

On Friday night the London Film Festival hosted the premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash as this year’s Love Gala.

Director Guadagnino and actor Ralph Fiennes attended the premiere to represent the cast and crew of this rock ’n’ roll fable of romance and decay set on the beautiful coast of Pantelleria Island, Sicily.

Tilda Swinton plays a notorious rock singer, Marianne Lane, who is recovering from surgery while on holiday with her boyfriend Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts). Suddenly, their romantic and relaxing time together is disrupted by the arrival of Harry (Ralph Fiennes), Marianne’s ex-lover and music producer. A man who likes to bring people’s truths in their faces and whose feelings for Marianne are still very strong. He surprises the couple by arriving with his young daughter, Penelope, (Dakota Johnson) and the four of them embark on a journey of unspoken desire, a gone past and a fiery passion for life.

The stunning production design permeates the whole film accompanied by the flamboyant Harry and his stream-of-consciousness-like monologues.
A character who simultaneously embodies an extremely genuine humour (often involving The Rolling Stones) and a dark melancholy.

The wonderful use of music also succeeds in changing the film’s tone from one scene to the other, often reminding of the dark playfulness of Jean Luc Godard’s Pierrot le Fou and Content.

Despite its brilliant technical achievements, the film really comes to life through the actors’ stunning performances, key to the development of this unconventional love story, one that is much more about the danger, limits and boundaries of passion and lust. A Bigger Splash does not cease to surprise the spectator, entertain him, but also make him reflect on human relationships.

After the screening, Guadagnino and Fiennes were warmly welcomed for a brief discussion about the film. A warm round of applause filled the venue reminding everyone that we all want to fall in love at the cinema.