Directed by Luca Guadagnino
Luca Guadagnino’s third narrative feature is a thrillingly melodramatic story of family business—in more ways than one. Set in the haut bourgeois world of modern-day Milan, the film ushers us into the seemingly perfect world of sumptuous elegance inhabited by the Recchi dynasty, whose fortune is built on its successful textile manufacturing business. After the firm’s founder and patriarch transfers co-control of the company to his son Tancredi and grandson Edoardo, Tancredi’s wife, Emma (Tilda Swinton), feels pangs of empty-nest syndrome and a growing sense of living in a gilded cage—until she finds herself led down an unlikely path by unexpectedly stirring desire. This compelling yet oh-so restrained drama of the eternal conflict between family ties and personal fulfillment unfolds with dazzling visual style, propelled by John Adams’s distinctive staccato score. A Magnolia Pictures release.
“Odes to old-school foreign films don’t get more sensual – or satisfying – than this…would be a fest highlight even if it didn’t give Tilda Swinton the desire-driven grande dame performance of her career.” –Time Out New York
2009. Italy. 120 min.
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Fri Apr 2: 6:15 (FSLC)
Sun Apr 4: 1:00 (MoMA)
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
Film and stage director, screenwriter, and producer Luca Guadagnino was born in Palermo, Italy, in 1971, and spent his childhood in Ethiopia. He graduated from La Sapienza in Rome, Italy. In 1999 he made his first full-length film, The Protagonists, which was presented at the Venice Film Festival that year. His Mundo Civilizado (2003) was presented at the Locarno International Film Festival, and in 2004 his film Cuoco Contadino appeared at the 61st Venice Film Festival. His next film, in 2005, was the controversial hit Melissa P. (based on Melissa Panarello’s novel One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed). He is also one of the producers of I Am Love.
