Emma has left Russia to live with her husband in Italy. Now a member of a powerful industrial family, she is the respected mother of three, but feels unfulfilled. One day, Antonio, a talented chef and her son's friend, makes her senses kindle.
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CinemaSerf
7
By CinemaSerf
“Emma” (Tilda Swinton) left an ordinary life in Russia to move to Milan where she married local industrialist “Recchi” (Pippo Delbono) and had three kids. She likes the life and it’s privilege, but she’s hardly challenged nor fulfilled. Their daughter “Elisabetta” lives in Nice and two sons “Edo” (Flavio Parenti) and “Gianluca” (Mattie Zachary) are at home with their parents. It’s the former son who has plans to set up a restaurant with his accomplished chef and best friend “Antonio” (Flavio Parenti) and showing a parental interest in her son’s work starts to make “Emma” realise just what she has been missing as she embarks on a passionate affair with the young man. With the two men working cheek by jowl it’s only a matter of time before that secret comes out, and when a tragedy ensues it takes it’s toll on a family that is ill-prepared for the consequences of her behaviour - and that includes “Emma” too. I am afraid that I always find Swinton to be a remarkably sterile actor, and even here - amidst the throes of naked passion with her swarthy lover, she simply didn’t lift anything off the page and the denouement seemed a little too contrived for impact rather than really providing us with anything substantial to conclude a beautifully filmed story. It’s a taboo that delivers more like a damp squib. I did quite enjoy it, and it is a stylishly put together piece of work from Luca Guadagnino but it has a disappointing emptiness to it that I felt rather underwhelmed.
