I Am Love (2010)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Jeremy S

  
  I loved "I am Love", this sweeping Italian melodrama is the most elegant modern romance film I've seen in a long time. Beautiful.

• Randy T

  
  Ultimately, there is a strength that emanates from this film, a strength that is feminine and maternal and very, very powerful.

• Carlos M

  
  A sumptuous Italian drama that brings to mind the visual and narrative style of Luchino Visconti. Exquisitely directed and acted, with an amazing Tilda Swinton perfectly conveying the discovery of love, this is a beautiful film that grows in a crescendo until a glorious, explosive… More
  A sumptuous Italian drama that brings to mind the visual and narrative style of Luchino Visconti. Exquisitely directed and acted, with an amazing Tilda Swinton perfectly conveying the discovery of love, this is a beautiful film that grows in a crescendo until a glorious, explosive finale.

• Pierluigi P

  
  The melodramatic and posh spirit of Luchino Visconti mixed with Hitchcock's study of female psychology (Marnie) Style over substance, but a ravishing style.

• Fernando Rafael Q

  
  Incredibly stylish ode to Italian beauty. Gorgeous European scenery, exquisite costumes, an impressive score by John Adams and fine performances are some of the good things this sexy yet undeniably elegant Luca Guadagnino film has to offer. The best aspects, of course, are its… More
  Incredibly stylish ode to Italian beauty. Gorgeous European scenery, exquisite costumes, an impressive score by John Adams and fine performances are some of the good things this sexy yet undeniably elegant Luca Guadagnino film has to offer. The best aspects, of course, are its extraordinary visuals: the Italian countryside, the streets of London and the Recchi mansion are beautifully captured by Yorick Le Saux. You could truly take any frame of this movie and hang it on your wall.

• Jim H

  
  Watching this film after Igmar Bergman, I start to realize what's so great about Bergman. <i>I Am Love</i> is a film rife with imagery, and it's clear that the director attempts to use the many shots of the Italian countryside to communicate aspects about the… More
  Watching this film after Igmar Bergman, I start to realize what's so great about Bergman. <i>I Am Love</i> is a film rife with imagery, and it's clear that the director attempts to use the many shots of the Italian countryside to communicate aspects about the protagonist family, but the images lack the sharpness of Bergman's, and the images fail to be easily applicable to the story at hand. The tours through the town seem more like a diversion than an essential part of the storyline. Also, it takes a long time for this family to fall apart. Once it does, it does make for interesting and engaging drama, but we have to wait forty-five minutes for the beginnings of the seam-cracking. Overall, the second half of this film is strong, but it takes an awful long time to get there.

• Robert C

  
  A film that is both warm and cold - simple and complex - lush and stark - depressing and inspirational. And though I found it beautiful and was touched (deeply) by it...I feel that it may be a little "too simple" in it's beauty, for some. TIlda Swinton never… More
  A film that is both warm and cold - simple and complex - lush and stark - depressing and inspirational. And though I found it beautiful and was touched (deeply) by it...I feel that it may be a little "too simple" in it's beauty, for some. TIlda Swinton never disappoints and the rest of the cast follows her lead, making this a film to remember come Oscar time.

• Dean M

  
  Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton unleashes her inner diva and Italian cinema gets a powerful new voice and delivers another spellbinding and critically acclaimed performance as the matriarch of a super-rich Milan family, who begins an illicit affair with her son's friend,… More
  Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton unleashes her inner diva and Italian cinema gets a powerful new voice and delivers another spellbinding and critically acclaimed performance as the matriarch of a super-rich Milan family, who begins an illicit affair with her son's friend, leading to a chain reaction that could undermine the powerful dynasty. Though it drags a little, this stately film never descends into formula, using John Adams's score to great effect and boldly utilising the flourishes of '70s Italian genre cinema (zooms, handheld camera) to create something original, refreshing and really very moving.

• ♥˩ƳИИ &

  
  Cast: Tilda Swinton, Flavio Parenti, Edoardo Gabbriellini, Alba Rohrwacher, Pippo Delbono, Diane Fleri, Maria Paiato, Marisa Berenson, Waris Ahluwalia, Gabriele Ferzetti Director: Luca Guadagnino Summary: Oscar winner Tilda Swinton shows off her multilingual skills in this… More
  Cast: Tilda Swinton, Flavio Parenti, Edoardo Gabbriellini, Alba Rohrwacher, Pippo Delbono, Diane Fleri, Maria Paiato, Marisa Berenson, Waris Ahluwalia, Gabriele Ferzetti Director: Luca Guadagnino Summary: Oscar winner Tilda Swinton shows off her multilingual skills in this Italian melodrama, in which family dissension, unbidden desire and other tensions bubble to the surface during the patriarch's birthday party. When the seemingly picture-perfect Recchi family gathers at the family manse to celebrate the great old man, the veneer of civility falls quickly away. My Thoughts: "Although I thought the film was beautifully made, I felt it to be too slow and overly dramatic for me. It seemed like a Italian soap opera. There wasn't a lot of character development, which made the people in this film unrelatable and cold. I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would. It was a struggle for me to finish it. Not a lot happens in this film to keep the interest. Great performance by Tilda Swinton. She's the only one who is memorable in this film."

• Drew S

  
  For what's essentially a classy soap opera, I am Love really doesn't have much dramatic momentum. Up until the last fifteen minutes of the film, the stakes are low and the realignment of our perspectives on the characters feels sluggish. Emma cheats, but who cares? Her… More
  For what's essentially a classy soap opera, I am Love really doesn't have much dramatic momentum. Up until the last fifteen minutes of the film, the stakes are low and the realignment of our perspectives on the characters feels sluggish. Emma cheats, but who cares? Her daughter's a lesbian, but why does she need to be? Things in I am Love seem to happen just for the hell of it, not for any sort of organic narrative growth. As a character study, much of what we see is meant as a sounding board for Swinton, a giant game board for her to maneuver through, but though the individual happenings she endures may captivate they never really add up. That knockout ending comes really close to wrapping it all up quite admirably, but it comes so out of left field that the events that preceded it just can't connect. The movie is bold and unique, a Tilda vehicle of considerable proportions full of lush greenery, dazzling architecture and sumptuous food. The multi-cultural element is fascinating; it serves not only as window dressing for the anemic dramatic stakes, but also as a new challenge for the versatile actress. Learn Italian AND Russian? Sure! As always, she's the constant center of attention, a buoy floating in an occasionally turgid sea. Worth it for her fans, hit or miss for anyone else, but probably disposable at the end of it all.

• Jake .

  
  I'm really struggling with how to review I Am Love. I absolutely loved the film, but it is very hard to describe it. It is not a film to write about but a film to feel. It is very internally directed and the actual "plot" is fairly insignificant. The film is very… More
  I'm really struggling with how to review I Am Love. I absolutely loved the film, but it is very hard to describe it. It is not a film to write about but a film to feel. It is very internally directed and the actual "plot" is fairly insignificant. The film is very emotional and very exaggerated; I sort of want to say that it would be the Italian influence shining through. Visually, it is absolutely gorgeous. I love the way it was filmed and presented. However, ultimately what makes the film are the characters. It's a bit of a spoiler perhaps, but I did not see Eduardo's fate coming. However, the ending really wouldn't have been possible without it, and that was one of the film's finest moments. There is this idea of identity, carrying identity, created identity, losing it, etc. One of the strongest parts in the film comes when Emma can no longer recall her birth name; anything she was is lost in the mantle of the proper Italian housewife. It may not be the most realistic idea, but it is powerful all the same - it's part of why I loved the conclusion so much. I Am Love is really a great film, and perhaps more importantly it is not a film simply to watch, but rather something to experience.

• Alireza M

  
  Visually was one of the most beautiful movies that i have ever seen and makes me ignore its lack of context.Maybe no one could play Emma's role as good as Tilda Swinton and once again she proved herself with an unforgettable performance.Although except Swinton's performane… More
  Visually was one of the most beautiful movies that i have ever seen and makes me ignore its lack of context.Maybe no one could play Emma's role as good as Tilda Swinton and once again she proved herself with an unforgettable performance.Although except Swinton's performane and visual achievement,movie isnt very remarkable but it isnt empty either What movie tries to say is controversial that every person has the right to fight the forced life with no guilt feeling and no matter what this freedom costs,people can trust their feeling and lust is meaningless

• Bathsheba M

  
  Yes, I had to go to Chicago to see this movie, because it was never going to come here. Worth the plane trip and staying on friend's sofa bed. I think that sheer visual beauty is worth a lot in a movie, I mean, why enter an ugly reality? And this one sizzled visually--the… More
  Yes, I had to go to Chicago to see this movie, because it was never going to come here. Worth the plane trip and staying on friend's sofa bed. I think that sheer visual beauty is worth a lot in a movie, I mean, why enter an ugly reality? And this one sizzled visually--the eating, the sex...actually the eating was kind of sexy too. And of course, the moral quandries of the characters. How weird is it to have an affair with your son's friend? Well, pretty weird, but the human heart has needs that trump propriety and I found myself cheering for a relationship that I would never approve of in real life. How's that for a suspension of disbelief?

• moon r

  
  like a meal in a haughty french restaurant this bit looks sumptuous, celebrating conspicuous consumption like a madman in chains gone apeshit, but ultimately is not too filling. in essence, a rich family is upset when mom takes up with a cook. ok, ok, he's not just a cook,… More
  like a meal in a haughty french restaurant this bit looks sumptuous, celebrating conspicuous consumption like a madman in chains gone apeshit, but ultimately is not too filling. in essence, a rich family is upset when mom takes up with a cook. ok, ok, he's not just a cook, he's a chef ... excuuuuuuse me. typically Italian, expect inundation in extreme close-ups, the sound of shoes walking on tile overamplified, and then there's the centerpiece of the film, one for the ladies: the seduction scene. a glorified soaper.

• William D

  
  "I Am Love," an Italian film from relatively unknown writer/director Luca Guadagnino and starring an Italian-speaking Tilda Swinton, is a mediocre, dull, television-level melodrama tarted up with gorgeous cinematography and art direction. It certainly looks great, but… More
  "I Am Love," an Italian film from relatively unknown writer/director Luca Guadagnino and starring an Italian-speaking Tilda Swinton, is a mediocre, dull, television-level melodrama tarted up with gorgeous cinematography and art direction. It certainly looks great, but there's nothing there. Yet another example of a great cinematographer being talked into directing films because so many people don't know the difference between cinematography and direction. Guadagnino is amazingly gifted with a camera, but he has no sense of how to develop a story or tell it. He also has no idea how to use an editing machine or what editing is meant to accomplish. The interminable "I Am Love" focuses on a super-rich family in Milan. (I suspect that Guadagnino's real reason for doing this project was that he wanted to film in palatial Milanese homes, which he certainly does plenty of. No one loves elegant furnishings like Guadagnino,) Tilda Swinton plays the reasonably happy wife of a middle-aged man who is in line to inherit his father's industrial empire. All is right in her world until she meets a handsome chef from the lower classes. You can almost see Guadagnino's notes in the screenplay: "Their eyes meet, and her pulse quickens. She has never felt such a longing." The story is saturated in cliches. Sometimes a cliche melodrama told well can be satisfying. (See almost any of the recent films by Clint Eastwood, for example.) But not only is "I Am Love" atrociously hackneyed, it's also sleep-inducing.

• Mark H

  
  Sophisticated tale of a married woman's affair with her son's business partner. Film really takes its time in the details, recounting the restrained existence of the Italian upper class at the turn of the century. At times the film's deliberate pace can be a… More
  Sophisticated tale of a married woman's affair with her son's business partner. Film really takes its time in the details, recounting the restrained existence of the Italian upper class at the turn of the century. At times the film's deliberate pace can be a frustrating exercise in style over substance. But oh what style! Sumptuous photography highlights the film's lavish set design and gorgeous Milan locations. The film is a visual treat and its style, and not the story, carries the drama single-handedly. Indeed, the last 30 minutes of the film scarcely has a single word of dialogue. A beautiful, but flawed film.

• Mark A

  
  A sumptuous visual feast, I Am Love, is ultimately a sad story about an outsider who never really connected with her husband or his family, and began an affair with a friend of her son. The lighting and the cinematography are exquisite. Tilda Swinton, plays Emma, a Russian emigre,… More
  A sumptuous visual feast, I Am Love, is ultimately a sad story about an outsider who never really connected with her husband or his family, and began an affair with a friend of her son. The lighting and the cinematography are exquisite. Tilda Swinton, plays Emma, a Russian emigre, married to Tancredi Recchi (Pippo Delbono) an Italian businessman. The family is tightly knit, but there are indications that the circle has difficulty enlarging to include others who were not born into it. Swinton is magnificent, while the rest of the cast is superb. The tension of the family dynamic is tangible, and the loneliness that drives Emma into another man's arms is easily discernible. This is not a lot of fun, but paints an unflinching picture of a woman who leaves the security of her family, hoping to find the piece of herself that has been missing.

• Walter M

  
  "I Am Love" is an emotionally complex and sensual movie that starts out with the birthday celebration of octogenarian Edoardo Recchi(Gabriele Ferzetti, from "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"). He chooses this occasion to finally surrender the reins of the… More
  "I Am Love" is an emotionally complex and sensual movie that starts out with the birthday celebration of octogenarian Edoardo Recchi(Gabriele Ferzetti, from "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"). He chooses this occasion to finally surrender the reins of the family business that he has held on to so for very long, to not only his son Tancredi(Pippo Delbono) but also his grandson, also named Edoardo(Flavio Parenti). The patriarch represents the outdated way of doing things in his autocratic fashion with things never changing, like disapproving of his granddaughter Betta(Alba Rohrwacher) changing her hobby from painting to photography. And the central point of conversation at the dinner is the grandson actually losing a race to Antonio(Edoardo Gabbriellini), a chef, because this sort of thing is never supposed to happen. A few months after the patriarch's death, a thawing of emotions takes place, as all bets are now officially off that allows the characters to start to find themselves.(The trick is to always be honest with yourself.) With Tancredi consumed with the business that has been left him, his Russian wife Emma(Tilda Swinton, proving that there is nothing she cannot do), who has been in a profound state of culture shock for the past three decades(in an aristocratic household, she has no problem with running errands and is friendly with the staff), is left with time to think and feel for herself for a change, that sends her rushing headlong towards a mesmerizing finale.

• Jeff T

  
  So lush. So Italian. So strange. This swooning melodrama is probably not for everybody, but if you take the dip, you'll find it an incredibly compelling and trippy one. With close-ups so tight that even the real feels surreal, the film is as weird as it is soapy. A tale of… More
  So lush. So Italian. So strange. This swooning melodrama is probably not for everybody, but if you take the dip, you'll find it an incredibly compelling and trippy one. With close-ups so tight that even the real feels surreal, the film is as weird as it is soapy. A tale of an incredibly rich family and what happens when Mom starts noticing a young man in the house, it's hard to even describe the thing. Everybody's great (I think) and beautiful (I know), but it's all sooooo European. Tilda Swinton, turns out, speaks Italian. And Russian. Which is certainly not the point of the thing, but it's just one more strange wonder in this big ol' opera of a movie.

• Nicolas K

  
  A very elegant and stylistically crease-less film that starts slowly and builds up to a powerful crescendo. Tilda Swindon is sublime as both a Russian woman of passion and a ice cold woman from Milan.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings