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A Bigger Splash – Movie Review: “makes ripples, but not waves”

23 February, 2016 — by Douglas Clarke-Williams0

David Hockney’s painting ‘A Bigger Splash’ is a classic of the 1960s Pop Art movement. It depicts a still, sunny California day, the unyielding lines of the landscape rent by the eponymous splash of an unseen figure in a swimming pool in the foreground.

There’s more than one splash in I am Love director Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash, both actual and metaphorical, and just as in Hockney’s masterpiece it’s these very disruptions which throw into sharp contrast the fragile rigidity of the world around us.

A Bigger Splash ralph fiennes with dakota johnson by the pool

We are first introduced to recuperating rockstar Marianne Lane (played, as ever with a luminously intimidating charisma by Tilda Swinton) and her boyfriend Paul De Smedt (a languid Matthias Schoenaerts) living out the wealthy artiste dream on the Italian island of Pantelleria. Their days revolve around swimming pool sex, long drives, and beach lounging, until Harry Hawkes (Ralph Fiennes) comes bombing in to drench them with the past. He’s accompanied by his daughter Penelope, acted with a pulsing Lolita-esque presence by Dakota Johnson.

Billed as an erotic thriller, A Bigger Splash just about lives up to the former while not quite holding the momentum and tension that it needs to justify the latter. Sex is everywhere in this film, and not hidden or suggested either; it’s bare-faced and full-frontal – just about the only part of themselves that the characters are willing to wholly show is their bodies. Fiennes in particular excels in this unbridled physicality, stealing the show with an extended dance sequence to ‘Emotional Rescue’ by The Rolling Stones. The rest of his performance is generally filled with a manic and restless energy, which perfectly wobbles between teeth-grindingly aggravating and irresistibly engaging.

a bigger splash ralph fiennes

Swinton, of course, is at the centre of every scene. Marianne Lane is recovering her vocal cords, so therefore spends much of the film in silence broken only by the occasional rasped invective or whispered sweet nothing. It’s a role which suits her perfectly (as all her roles seem to do). It means that she communicates primarily through a slow grace and the flicker of her eyes, which seem to make sense of the cliche ‘windows to the soul.’ In her silence she seems as much a part of the island as the snakes which must be continually tossed back into the long grass – until all of a sudden she’s not.

The problem is that the other members of the cast pale in comparison, and the film is too long and too busy trying to do three things at once for it to be carried by these two otherwise excellent central performances. Matthias Schoenaerts seems a little wasted here, being obliged to do little more than look mournful; the moments when he is allowed some back-and-forth hint at what could have been a more rounded ensemble. Likewise Johnson is promising at first but exists as little more than a spark for the tinder-dry resentment of her elders, and a hurried third-act reveal only throws the slightness of her early presence into greater relief.

None of this is to say that this is a film without its joys; just that like love, A Bigger Splash is saved by the incidentals. The cinematography is adventurous, with interesting and engaging shots sprinkled throughout to perk you up without seeming gimmicky or overwrought. There are also some genuinely hilarious moments, mostly courtesy of Fiennes, but the film also has a little fun with some of the more literal difficulties in communication experienced by the quartet.

The problem is that the film ultimately feels a little like a slightly over-long holiday. It’s fresh and interesting to begin with, but eventually you start feeling a little hot and sluggish especially when you have to pack too many things into the last few days because you were too busy relaxing earlier on. Once you’re back at your desk, however, you’ll forget the unpleasant bits and smile when you think of the good ones, and before you know it you’ll rather wish you were back. 3/10

Check out the rest of the latest cinema releases in our new film reviews section, including the exhilarating documentary Sherpa.

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A Bigger Splash
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