A BIGGER SPLASH
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya
Grade: B+
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Written by: David Kajganich based on the film “La Piscine” directed by Jacques Deray with an original screenplay by Alain Page.
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson, Matthias Schoenaerts, Tilda Swinton
Screened at: Fox, NYC, 4/18/15
Opens: May 13, 2016
It has been said many times that if something bad happens to a large number of people, say, 400 dead in an earthquake in Ecuador, that’s a statistic. But if something bad happens to one person, that’s a tragedy. On the Sicilian island of Pantelleria, thirty-seven miles from the coast of Tunisia, the fireworks leading to such a tragedy are not of the New Year’s Day assortment, but as any moviegoer can confirm, human beings can be just as explosive. “A Bigger Splash,” which takes place exclusively on this little-known and remote piece of land just thirty-two miles square, is based on the 1969 film “La Piscine,” Jacques Deray’s look into lovers Marianne and Jean-Paul, who spend their vacation in a villa near St.-Tropez. There, as in the Luca Guadagnino’s movie, Marianne invites former lover, Harry and his teenage daughter, Penelope to stay, but on a piece of land far less known than St. Tropez.
Luca Guadagnino, whose “I Am Love” in 2009 is the erotic tale of an unfulfilled woman and her sensuous relationship to a chef, and the Sicilian-born director has no coy hesitations this time around either, featuring nudity and half-nudity, and with the expressions on the face of one woman, we are sure that she is not faking orgasms.
Ralph Fiennes and Tilda Swinton are the people to watch. In fact, even if you don’t think that Fiennes delivers his best performance, you may have to admit that he radiates the kind of extroversion that is obnoxious, and that includes not only his never-stopping loud mouth but his bringing alcohol to the home of a man who is a recovering alcoholic. The four principals in the story are Harry Hawkes (Ralph Fiennes), a music producer and the ex-boyfriend of Marianne Lane (Tilda Swinton), a major rock star recovering on the island from a throat operation. Harry shows up at the vacation quarters of an old friend, Paul De Smedt (Matthias Schoenaerts), who is Marianne’s current significant other, bringing along his seventeen-year-old daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson), who claims to be twenty-two.
In a short time, we see that Harry is not so much interested in his younger male friend as he is with Marianne, and that his trip to Pantelleria has the object of bringing her back into his fold. Just as Marianne, who has assured Harry that she is not going to leave Paul, has second thoughts upon gaining the strong attentions of her ex, Harry’s daughter tries to seduce the frustrated Paul, which brings tensions to the boiling point in an island that is already volcanic.
Tilda Swinton’s character must talk, at most, in a whisper throughout, as she is resting her vocal cords, but this most accomplished of performers need not say a word to convey her presence. She is seen in several flashbacks evoking the applause of tens of thousands of fans, who appear to fill a football stadium, and she is as tempestuous in her private life as she is on stage. Dakota Johnson, brought our attention as the young innocent taking a stab at eroticism in “Fifty Shades of Grey,” conveys the image of a manipulative young woman whose shy presence covers not only her goal of seducing young and handsome Paul but who shows contempt for the threesome particularly in a way that becomes clear during an investigation for murder. Penelope, in fact, not only lies about her age but is not even sure that Harry, whom she barely knows and who acts with her in an incestuous manner, is her father.
“A Bigger Splash” is one, solid look at the way the beautiful people act when they are not performing for money, and if there is any truth in this film, there is more than enough material for that horde of magazines that titillate those shallow readers who can’t get enough info on the joys, and especially the sorrows, of the rich and famous.
Rated R. 124 minutes. © Harvey Karten, Member, New York Film Critics Online
Story – A-
Acting – A-
Technical – B+
Overall – B+
