A Bigger Splash ended up in my queue because I am a longtime fan of Ralph Fiennes (I’ve even seen him play Hamlet on Broadway) and adore Tilda Swinton’s work. Mattias Schoenaerts was a bonus. After I finished watching it, I discovered that Luca Guadagnino, the director of A Bigger Splash, also directed I Am Love, which I consider magnificent.
A Bigger Splash is about a rock star and her boyfriend,played by Swinton and Schoenaerts respectively, whose idyllic and peaceful retreat and recovery are disturbed by unexpected guests: the rock star’s friend and former flame, played by Fiennes, and his newly discovered daughter, played by Dakota Johnson, whom I did not recognize as I was watching the film. [Johnson is the famous offspring of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson. She starred in 50 Shades of Grey, which I have no plans on seeing unless I am stuck in front of a screen showing it-like staying at someone’s house or in an airplane or it is literally the last film on Earth, and I am immortal and driven mad by loneliness because there is no one else on earth, and I have read every book, the last being 50 Shades of Grey, so now I feel compelled to finally see the movie.] Fiennes’ character disrupts the atmosphere of their vacation home and introduces a vibrant and chaotic element to the couple’s life that eventually leads to a dramatic turn.
A Bigger Splash is a beautiful film to watch on many levels. The costume design, specifically for Swinton’s character, is gorgeous. The editing and cinematography is nuanced, sophisticated and textured. For example, when the couple is openly lying naked, the shadow of a plane passes over them before Fiennes arrives at the airport. The way that the boyfriend’s demons are visually introduced-the empty then the full refrigerator is really clever. The underlying ugliness of the real world constantly seeps into their indulgent world either through radio broadcasts or when refugees stumble across their property. The Sirocco wind also signals how this visit stirs up turbulent emotions and upends the couple’s stability. The symbolism of the pool is the barometer of the couple’s psychological health. The interweaving of past and present events adds thematic tension that propels the plot forward and increased my interest in the superficially leisurely unfolding events. The theme of self-destruction and suicide and self-sabotage is revisited in numerous ways by different characters.
The acting in A Bigger Splash is so superb that at times, it feels more like a documentary. Swinton lays the greatness gauntlet down at the feet of her colleagues by playing her character without speaking. Swinton’s character in A Bigger Splash is often referenced as a David Bowie type, but Swinton and Fiennes reminded me of a parallel universe Eurythmics, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, rock star and a producer, world citizens, comfortable with fluid gender and sexuality with a rich relationship history and shared love of music and life. Johnson surprised me by not only keeping up with her far more experienced colleagues, but by being able to play her character with enough ambiguity and care to elevate what could be seen as the Lolita trope into something more provocative and simultaneously sympathetic. Schoenaerts does a solid job, but his character is more inscrutable and the least fascinating of the four. He is dwarfed and muted instead of elevated by the excellence.
A Bigger Splash is Fiennes film. When he isn’t on screen, interest seems to universally lag among all reviewers. Reviewers blame the plot. You are missing Fiennes! Fiennes is notable for his dour, depressed or tortured protagonists, but A Bigger Splash finally gives him an opportunity to play against type as a nightmare to peace and a jolt of disruptive life, a real bon vivant. Fiennes has a dance sequence that has been favorably compared to Oscar Isaac’s scene in Ex Machina, but for me, it is more powerful and joyful than that one, which felt sinister. I cannot quite put my finger on what it reminded me of-Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken or The Big Lebowski? Unless a man is a professional dancer, men don’t usually get to dance alone unless it is for comedic effect or it is a brief musical interlude instead of real life dancing to music that the character would enjoy. It is just one of many powerful moments that Fiennes executes naturally and effortlessly, which means that it was probably neither, but the result of tremendous hard work.
I did not know that A Bigger Splash is a remake of La Piscine, but for once, I have no desire to see the original. A Bigger Splash is an ambitious though flawed artistic tour de force that is a must see for fans of the cast, but may leave others cold because of the pacing and artistic bent. I would not mind seeing it again.