I Am Love

First of all, I freely admit that I am not an artiste. Next, I'm happy to own that I'm not above a little nudity or a sweaty body or two if a story calls for them. But finally, I prefer stories that GO somewhere....

In "Io sono l'amore" (with English captions) we saw far too many Italian streets and buildings, with architectural details lovingly caressed by the camera, ad infinitum, before the story had begun.

In fact, I despaired that the story ever WOULD begin before a bit of plot was finally thrown our way. Then we meandered through an enormous, elegant home; admired expensively dressed aristocrats; and hungered after exquisitely prepared meals. In other words, we sampled snippets of life among the idle rich.

Eventually we sorted out some of the players:

• The mamma is played by Tilda Swinton ("Burn After Reading") who is a trophy wife imported from Russia.
• Her favored son and heir is played by Flavio Parenti (lots of Italian TV) who wants to get out of the textile business and become a restaurateur.
• Edoardo Gabbriellini (lots of Italian TV) is the fellow who wants to open a restaurant with that son.
• Pippo Delbono ("The Sofa") is the papa, a wealthy textile manufacturer looking to liquidate his holdings.

Mamma falls for her son's friend, amid endless shots of honey bees, flower blossoms, waving wheat sheaves, clover and sweet peas. Despite nudity and orgasmic orchestration, I could discern absolutely NO heat and was not in the least bit invested with the outcome.

If you have lots of patience, maybe you'll appreciate this film. There was a spattering of applause from some of the audience members at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival, but others had already walked out....