A Bigger Splash

After rock superstar Marianne Lane (Tilda Swinton) undergoes vocal cord surgery and is forbidden to talk during the healing process, she and her filmmaker lover, Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts), hide away in an idyllic villa on Pantelleria (a volcanic island on the strait of Sicily, not far from Tunisia). They're first glimpsed blissfully sun-bathing naked by the tiled pool. A mutual friend, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), arrives unexpectedly, along with his newly-discovered, nubile daughter, Penny (Dakota Johnson). Harry is an ebullient, often obnoxious music producer who was once Marianne's lover and introduced her to Paul. Now, he's determined to reclaim her affections. As the dynamic backstory of this steamy foursome is gradually revealed in flashbacks, they sexually tease and deviously torment one another, casually indulging in wanton coupling and full-frontal nudity. Loosely based on Jacques Deray's 1969 film La Piscine (The Swimming Pool), filmmaker Luca Guadagnino's erotic melodrama injects a tenuous subplot about illegal Tunisian immigrants, but effectively utilizes Marianne's inability to speak as a metaphor for repressed emotions and guilty secrets. Incidentally, the film's title refers to an enigmatic 1967 David Hockney painting that displays a foaming wake in a swimming pool. Seductive and sensual, this psycho-sexual thriller is recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include promos (9 min.), a gallery (2 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a small extras package for an engaging film.] (S. Granger)