I am love

I'm recommending this film because of the visuals and Tilda Swinton's performance, her mesmerizing presence, not for the story/plot, which is a pretty predictable melodrama. Tilda Swinton is one of those fascinating actresses who can appear luminously beautiful, almost angelic (as she does for much of this film), and then suddenly look boyishly gawky, angular and cold, almost ugly. If you want more details about the plot, go to Roger Ebert's website, but briefly, it revolves around three generations of a wealthy, aristocratic family in Milan in which Tilda Swinton plays the Russian-born wife of the elder patriarch's son. She begins an affair with one of her son's friends, a chef, and the story plays out as you might expect, in the style of a passionate Italian opera. (All the other actors are Italian and the film is in Italian with English subtitles.) The cinematography is quite extraordinary, everything seeming larger than life, many close-ups not only of people but erotically-charged food preparation and dishes, opulent dinner scenes, massive buildings, snowy city-scapes, grass and insects. If you go to this film I recommend sitting quite far back in the theatre because the camera often moves very quickly and jerkily and those close-ups, literally in your face, fill the screen. This is a long film that spends lots of time on those visual details; some people will find this boring and the story over-the-top, so be warned.