A craggy, stormy volcanic island off Sicily. Some fabulous real estate. A little food porn. Tilda Swinton’s face, and Ralph Fiennes’ — well, a lot more than his face.
What more could a film buff want?
To be fair, “A Bigger Splash,” by director Luca Guadagnino, has an uneven feel. For 90 minutes it floats along as a relaxed exploration of four quirky characters — attractive, lustful, bored, somewhat confused — and the shifting ties that bind them, carnally and otherwise. Then, suddenly and shockingly, it turns into a psychological thriller for the last half-hour. It’s a shift in tone that feels uneasy and a little forced.
But by then, you’ve been lulled into a second-glass-of-wine feeling — perhaps a result of watching those lazy, al fresco meals overlooking the sea. Your defenses are down, and you’re ready to flow with it until the end, even though you have a feeling you’re going to be left a little unsatisfied.
The setting is the Sicilian island of Pantelleria near Tunisia, where Marianne (Swinton) and her boyfriend of six years, Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts) are staying in a sprawling home atop rocky cliffs, with a nice swimming pool (the film is a reworking of the French New Wave classic “La Piscine,” which should give aforementioned film buffs a sense of where things are headed).