A Bigger Splash, film review: Ralph Fiennes gives a magnificently flamboyant performance

Your support helps us to tell the story

Support Now

Find out moreClose

In my reporting on women's reproductive rights, I've witnessed the critical role that independent journalism plays in protecting freedoms and informing the public.

Your support allows us to keep these vital issues in the spotlight. Without your help, we wouldn't be able to fight for truth and justice.

Every contribution ensures that we can continue to report on the stories that impact lives

Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

Luca Guadagnino's sun-splashed melodrama begins in playful fashion but grows more fraught as it probes away at its characters' narcissism and insecurity. The film boasts a magnificently flamboyant performance from Ralph Fiennes as rock manager and producer Harry, who gatecrashes the villa where his ex-lover, rock star Marianne Lane (Tilda Swinton) is staying with her boyfriend, Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts).

Harry has brought along his coquettish daughter (Dakota Johnson in Lolita-like sunglasses). He is a wildly energetic old rake with an appetite for food, alcohol, sex and mischief. Marianne is affectionate toward Harry but there is mounting tension between him and Paul, a film-maker and, it seems, a recovering alcoholic.

The film makes its hedonistic protagonists seem like characters in a classical tragedy. The intimacy between them becomes more oppressive and results in ever more extreme behaviour. The zest of the film-making belies the darkness at the core here.