I Am Love can take back a viewer to a time when movies were slowly paced but beneficial and satisfying. It is in Italian and is the directorial debut of Luca Guadagnino. It's a family affair as tradition clashes with modernism and desire clashes with values. Tilda Swinton first created the project with Guadagnino many years ago, it quickly became a labour of love that took up a big chunk of their times. Swinton saw something in the director that was special and unique. One cannot help but understand what Swinton saw when watching I Am Love. Guadagnino stylizes his film -if a bit too much- into a kind of Wes Anderson-like bon bon, spiked with malice and eroticism to boot.
The problem is in fact Guadagnino's over stylization, which is showy but not overtly effective. The talent is shown but doesn't need to be blown up in every scene. While Wes Anderson infuses heart and passion into his screenplays, there is a coldness in Guadagnino's words that one cannot escape. The silliness of his words and screenplay cannot be saved by his visual flair for image. The romantic plot is at times worldess and dull. There are moments of brilliance & moments of desirable sexiness but one leaves I Am Love with the notion that for all the positives & dizzying stylishness, the negatives outweight them and are like watching paint dry.