Io sono l'amore

Io sono l'amore (2009)

Seen on the 21st April 2010 (120 min)

This was a very beautiful film. It is of course a tragedy but this is just the excuse to produce some of the most colorfuls shots and delicious food scenes I remember after Babel's banquet. Exquistely filmed, it recounts the story of Emma, a russian emmigreé living the high life in Italy. Her life seems sorted, she has got everything we could possible wish for: wealth, looks, connections, family. Except that things in the superficiality seem like that. Down deep in our feelings we are still anxious, and in search for the meaning of life. In the case of Emma, her life starts tumbling when she discovers her daughter is a lesbian. The sould of the film, Edo, has just lost a prize in a family where everyone else is a winner.

The grandfather announces the day of his birthday that the big factory and business is going to be managed by Edo's father (a guy we seldom get to know) and Edo himself. However, we sense Edo is not comfortable about it, it goes agains many of his beliefs except for one: ambition. His brother remainds Edo that ambition IS the cornerstone of their business and they need to obey, they need to go global and sell. Meanwhile Emma questions her relationship and starts having an affair with Antonio, the beautiful young chef who is quite close because of some homoherotic moments to Edo. Their lives are turned upside down in this complicated, wild, neoliberal World were real meaning, real people don't seem to count anymore. A fantastic film.