A Bigger
Splash
(2015)
(SPOILERS) This
remake (of 1969 film La Piscine)
didn’t quite work for me, mostly due to a third act narrative lurch that feels disproportionate
and (relatively) unmotivated. Combined with a cryptic quality that tends to the
annoying rather than intriguing, A Bigger
Splash lends itself to a bigger let-down than I had expected.
Mainly
because, prior to that point, it had me fully engaged, rather than frustrated. The
tensions between the isolated quartet on the idyllic Italian island of
Pantelleria simmer nicely, as Harry (Ralph Fiennes), ex- of recuperating rock
royalty Marianne (Tilda Swinton), gate-crashes her and toy boy Paul’s (Matthias
Schoenaerts) the love nest. In tow is petulant daughter Penelope (Dakota
Johhson), whose relationship with her recently discovered daddy is fairly
unconventional.
But then, everything
about the relationships here is fairly unconventional. Harry is revealed to
have introduced Paul to Marianne, encouraging their relationship, but he now
wishes to rekindle their flame, dismissing her dalliance with Paul as boring
and lacking that one true spark. Penelope flagrantly flaunts herself towards
the disinterested, uptight Paul, and the jealousies nursed by Harry towards studly
Paul suggest the unspoken undercurrent of something more.
The dynamic
during the first 90 minutes is intriguing in both what it does and doesn’t say.
That said, the use of flashbacks to illustrate the history between Harry, Paul
and Marianne is all but redundant (there’s little one would regard as essential
there, and some lousy back projection in the stadium scenes to boot), and
mischief-maker Penelope is used in such a wilfully perverse manner that she
seems like a cynically-imposed plot motor rather than any sort of character in
her own right. But Swinton and Fiennes bring such life to their characters that
it’s impossible not to become engrossed.
Swinton,
despite suggesting the very luvvie-ish conceit of giving her character struggling
post-throat surgery (oohhhh, the thematic resonance!) is as indelible as an
aging (not that you’d really notice) diva as she is in everything she does,
while Fiennes, in a wholly gregarious, obnoxious, exhausting, but entirely
self-aware (so much so, he breaks the fourth wall at one point) performance as
a provocative rock producer keen on abandon in every sense (including some
hilariously woeful dancing), but also very sharp, seizes a gift of a role – not
typical of the kind of thing he’s offered – and bear hugs it.
Less
successful is Schoenaerts, who too frequently passes from brooding into stolid
and unpersuasive. The film needed a performance suggesting something more
combustible lurking within, particularly to set to the stage for the final act,
and the result is that we never quite believe it when the confrontation with
Harry occurs and the latter ends up at the bottom of the pool. Prior to this,
Harry’s advances have been decisively spurned by Marianne, while Paul has succumbed
to Penelope’s coquettish come-ons, leading to a superb dinner table scene, post-coital
conundrums, in which Paul becomes the most animated he has in the movie, and
the penny drops for all concerned.
But the
picture hasn’t earned itself a murder plotline. It doesn’t have that kind of
canvas. Indeed, it feels like a cheat on the good character drama previously unfurled.
Added to which, some hugely clodding elements are imposed that fail to mesh;
the police chief sweeping the investigation under the rug because he’s a big
fan; the ungainly attempt to make this topical by referencing the refugee
crisis as a plot resolver; and the “reveal” that Penelope speaks fluent Italian
and was 17 all along (I thought I was missing something; the more interesting
reveal, which I wouldn’t dismiss even now, although Harry’s comments seemed to
suggest otherwise, is that there’s no
connection between “father” and “daughter”, and she was merely brought along to
help facilitate his stealing back Marianne).
What does
the elimination of Harry add to the picture consequently and thematically? Perhaps
La Piscine made this scenario succeed
more effectively. We are left with pregnant presentations of the remaining
characters, Penelope’s veneer slipping (Johnson can play older no problem, but
no one is buying her as 17) and the relationship between Marianne and Paul appears
affirmed, showing their relief at having got away with it, whatever it was, as there’s no sense the
Harry-sized hole in their lives has any real consequence. Which may reflect the
characters on one level, but it doesn’t reflect the first three-quarters of A Bigger Splash.
Agree? Disagree? Mildly or vehemently? Let me know in the comments below.
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