A Bigger Splash

Dir: Luca Guadagnino

2015

****

Luca Guadagnino has come a long way since his 1999 debut The Protagonists, a somewhat overambitious experiment that lacked a certain maturity, considering its clear new wave influences. A Bigger Splash is a remake of Jacques Deray's 1969 thriller Le Piscine (Swimming Pool), an intriguing tale of sex and jealousy. The structure and story are very similar but A Bigger Splash has none of the sexual bondage and is, in my opinion, a little more focused on love rather than sex. I grew up on Deray's films, I'd watch his, Claude Chabrol and Louis Malle's movies all day long at film school, the sexual thrillers being the ones that captured my curiosity the most. I never quite understood them and have become to see them simply as a bit of titillation and an exercise in forced controversy, a provocative reaction to the conservatism of the time. Indeed, this is where exploitation came from but I digress, there was always something more to Le Piscine than the rest. There was always an eerie undercurrent of something quite sinister about it, an idea that there are terrible things that everyone is capable of and an unspoken element of human nature that we often ignore and our abilities to ignore the shocking. A Bigger Splash ignores this element of the original which I think was wise. I don't generally like remakes but I think the changes make it justifiable. I like the original a lot, it is a fascinating look at the times and is quite reflective of the late 60s in many ways. A Bigger Splash could be seen as a reflection of its time too, the age of excess, entitlement and celebrity. No matter who, when or where you are, certain human traits remain the same and it is fascinating to see the same situation played out nearly 50 years later. The script is phenomenal and is performed quite impressively by the main cast. Guadagnino collaborates with Tilda Swinton for the third time and for the third time it is a complete success. Swinton remains silent for most of the film but speaks volumes with her subtle facial expressions and mannerisms, it is a brilliant performance that hasn't received the recognition it deserves. Matthias Schoenaert seems to get better with every film and is generally worth seeing a film for alone and Dakota Johnson certainly make amends for Fifty Shades of Grey with a perfect performance as the film's Lolita/femme fatale. However, thanks to a killer script and a performance so full of energy it's amazing the other actors were even noticeable, Ralph Fiennes steals the show by a country mile. This maybe my favourite Fiennes movie, I might even prefer his performance here than his performance in the brilliant The Grand Budapest Hotel. He does get all the great lines to be fair but he throws himself into the role headfirst from the start and never looks back. At first I worried whether the updated ending would work, it didn't look like it was going to but the final scene is suitably devastating and can be interpreted a number of different ways, each one forcing the audience to ask themselves what they would do in the situation which will more than likely unravel a darker side than you might expect. An emotional rollercoaster and a suspenseful thriller in one. I loved it.