IO SONO L' AMORE

Emma Recchi, a Russian by birth, was acquired by her Italian cloth-magnate husband on an art-buying trip to Russia. Having given him three children, she seemingly plays the role of corporate wife without question. On meeting Antonio, a chef and friend of her elder son Edoardo, she begins to undergo an awakening that will turn her family upside down and result in a tragedy dividing them all. As she embarks on a passionate relationship with Antonio, Emma is released from the shackles that held her. The luxurious, hard-edged, Art-Deco styled house which had become her prison is exchanged for the boundless wide-open spaces of the colourful Ligurian campagna; her immaculate pastel-coloured Armani dresses and richly understated designer accessories are swapped for baggy, faded, country clothes. In a move that ultimately leads to the film’s final tragedy, she also allows her lover to roughly chop her hair, further throwing off the bonds of her previous, buttoned-up, manicured existence.
Emma and Antonio’s love is one that, once let out of the bottle, tears lives apart yet simply can not be recaptured. The world of the powerful Recchi family is one of control and conformity. Passion is a weakness not to be tolerated in this atmosphere of monochrome restraint. Emma’s daughter, Betta, escapes to London to explore her artistic creativity and to come to terms with her fomenting feelings of lesbianism. (dogandwolf.com)