Director: Luca Guadagnino
Year Released: 2015
Rating: 2.0
Rock goddess (a female David Bowie!) Marianne Lane (Ms. Tilda) - dealing with strained vocal chords (or so she wants everyone to think) - and her photographer lover Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts) are on holiday in Pantelleria (an Italian island) when music producer Harry Hawkes (Ralph Fiennes) and his daughter (?!) Penelope (Dakota Johnson) show up ... sexual tension (predictably) ensues. Despite the stellar cast it's a shapeless effort that basically rambles through scenes of hanging out by the pool and going to karaoke and drinking before it realizes a little late that 'something' has to happen - a hedonist becomes jealous, is 'drowned' and life goes on (the Italian police screw up the investigation, echoing the botched Amanda Knox case). I think Guadagnino's trying to make some kind of point about 'otherness' and difficulties with communication (Paul doesn't like talking about his suicide attempt, Marianne can speak but chooses not to, Penelope knows Italian but is of no help) ... but that's a thesis that isn't well developed. As for letting Fiennes prance around and over-act: he doesn't quite move like Jagger, now does he?
