Tilda Swinton plays an unhappy matriarch in Luca Guadagnino’s gorgeous romantic drama.
Born in Russia, Emma (Swinton) married into a wealthy aristocratic Milanese family. She has two adoring grown-up children and an all-powerful patriarch by her side. But despite her gilded, luxurious lifestyle, she feels a growing discontent, impossible to accept. When tragedy strikes, Emma must choose whether to stay or strike out for herself.
At once a baroque family melodrama and a militantly political statement about gender and sexuality, class and capitalism, this is one of the strongest art house films of the year.
Visually sumptuous, clinically precise in its dissection of a cosseted and cloying way of life, and imbued with an emotional intensity of rare power, it’s also Tilda Swinton’s finest performance to date.