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bironic
I just saw A Bigger Splash starring Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Matthias Schoenaerts and Dakota Johnson, an intrigue-at-the-beach movie that seemed perfect as the weather here warms.
I was so sure it would end in a foursome -- the whole thing was equal opportunity skin- and sex-heavy, three of the four characters had already had sex with each other by the halfway point, with heavy flirting between the remainder, at least two characters were established as bi, and a mores-shattering orgy certainly seemed like the inevitable delicious conclusion -- but with just enough doubt to keep things suspenseful, you know? But then they went for murder instead, and all the air went out of the story, which dragged on for another, I don't know, 20 minutes or something, with a police investigation that did not make me care about whether the guilty party got caught and a final couple of scenes that elicited zero pathos or amusement.
Was it supposed to be a twist that the two men whose simmering tension seemed about to tip over from antagonism into a steamy makeout scene ended up physically fighting instead? Because that's every other movie ever; no points for subverting viewers' expectations of getting poly for a change. So instead we end up with the three non-incestuous heterosexual pairings having sex; the incestuous-seeming relationship remarked upon by others but denied by the guy; one woman actively trying to seduce the other, who seemed receptive, but no consummation; and one of the two men killing the other. Sigh. The foursome would have been such a beautiful, pardon the phrase, climax.
Aside from that, they set up a Chekhov's gun that never went off and had a subplot involving black "migrants" that went nowhere except (a) an uncomfortable moment where a white girl indicated feeling sexually threatened and (b) Tilda's character took advantage of the local policemen's racism to divert suspicion from her boyfriend. :/
The film is a remake of La Piscine/The Swimming Pool, which I never got around to seeing. I'm going to fix that now. Maybe it had a more masterful grasp of tension. Even from the little I know of the original, I wish A Bigger Splash had departed more from it.
Tilda was marvelous, though, as always, and beautiful, whether in all white in her island retreat or done up in glitter as a David Bowie rock star. Ralph Fiennes had a few very brave scenes. And the film had some things to say about communication and how words can get in the way.
ETA: Wow, it has a 90% positive critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I'll definitely be reading some of those reviews to see if I missed something or if we just disagree. ETA 2: Ah ha -- A+ agree with Village Voice, especially the last paragraph.
I was so sure it would end in a foursome -- the whole thing was equal opportunity skin- and sex-heavy, three of the four characters had already had sex with each other by the halfway point, with heavy flirting between the remainder, at least two characters were established as bi, and a mores-shattering orgy certainly seemed like the inevitable delicious conclusion -- but with just enough doubt to keep things suspenseful, you know? But then they went for murder instead, and all the air went out of the story, which dragged on for another, I don't know, 20 minutes or something, with a police investigation that did not make me care about whether the guilty party got caught and a final couple of scenes that elicited zero pathos or amusement.
Was it supposed to be a twist that the two men whose simmering tension seemed about to tip over from antagonism into a steamy makeout scene ended up physically fighting instead? Because that's every other movie ever; no points for subverting viewers' expectations of getting poly for a change. So instead we end up with the three non-incestuous heterosexual pairings having sex; the incestuous-seeming relationship remarked upon by others but denied by the guy; one woman actively trying to seduce the other, who seemed receptive, but no consummation; and one of the two men killing the other. Sigh. The foursome would have been such a beautiful, pardon the phrase, climax.
Aside from that, they set up a Chekhov's gun that never went off and had a subplot involving black "migrants" that went nowhere except (a) an uncomfortable moment where a white girl indicated feeling sexually threatened and (b) Tilda's character took advantage of the local policemen's racism to divert suspicion from her boyfriend. :/
The film is a remake of La Piscine/The Swimming Pool, which I never got around to seeing. I'm going to fix that now. Maybe it had a more masterful grasp of tension. Even from the little I know of the original, I wish A Bigger Splash had departed more from it.
Tilda was marvelous, though, as always, and beautiful, whether in all white in her island retreat or done up in glitter as a David Bowie rock star. Ralph Fiennes had a few very brave scenes. And the film had some things to say about communication and how words can get in the way.
ETA: Wow, it has a 90% positive critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I'll definitely be reading some of those reviews to see if I missed something or if we just disagree. ETA 2: Ah ha -- A+ agree with Village Voice, especially the last paragraph.
