Search - Bigger Splash, A on DVD

B.J. W. (analogkid01) from CHICAGO, IL
Reviewed on 4/12/2024...

Luca Guadagnino's 2015 film "A Bigger Splash" is a four-hander starring Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson, and Matthias Schoenaerts. I'm not very familiar with Guadagnino's work, but he did a very well-received remake of Dario Argento's "Suspiria" which, by some accounts, surpasses the original. He's got a new one coming out called "Challengers" starring Zendaya as an injured tennis player which I'm interested in seeing, and in 2022 he released the little-known but incredibly effective "Bones and All" with current wunderkind Timothee Chalamet.

"Splash," however, left me a little cold. Swinton plays Marianne, a David Bowie-esque rocker who's currently nursing a severe case of laryngitis on Pantelleria Island (halfway between Sicily and Tunis, if you're wondering). With her is her younger lover Paul (Schoenaerts), a photographer who she met via her former lover and producer, Harry (Fiennes). Well wouldn't you know it, Harry shows up to try to rekindle things with Marianne, but brings along his teenage daughter Penelope (Johnson), of whose existence Harry only recently learned.

Got all that?

So like a chess game, this character makes a play for that one, this other character rebuffs, there are verbal and physical feints and dodges, and a few flashbacks and lingering shots of Italian cuisine thrown in for good measure. Turns out Harry intentionally got Marianne and Paul together when he felt their relationship was on the wane, and he regrets his decision immensely.
One of the biggest letdowns of the film is that Swinton spends most of it either silent or hoarsely whispering. Swinton's voice is not meant for silent film, dammit! There's not enough meat on the bones of this script for us to really engage with Swinton's character otherwise, so you're left with the brooding Paul, the mysterious but underwritten Penelope, and Harry who talks enough for all four of them and you just can't wait for him to shut up.

There's a murder, of course, and the last act of the film centers around the police investigation. The final scene is meant to be tense but just comes across as goofy and completely unrealistic, and I was once again just waiting for the credits to roll.
But, this is what I get for wanting to make sure I see eeeeeevery Tilda Swinton film...I know there's gonna be a stinker or two in there. But two in one week...goddamn. I need to go rewatch Orlando just to reassure myself.

Grade: B-minus.

(One last note: these super-white people are out in the Mediterranean sun for hours and hours, not a hat to be seen, and never a slathering of suntan lotion. How are they not all burned to a crisp by the final act??)

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 10/29/2019...

Was not sure what to make of this but as the strange plotline grew, it made more sense.