Review: A Bigger Splash (15)

Simmering sexual tensions of the original have been turned up to a furious boil in A Bigger Splash, which demands full-frontal nudity from almost the entire cast as the battle of the sexes claims at least one casualty.

The striking backdrop of a volcanic Mediterranean island is an apt metaphor for the dormant desires of morally conflicted characters, who threaten to erupt under sustained provocation. It’s this air of uncertainty and impending doom which electrifies every frame of Guadagnino’s stylistically specific vision. Once again, the filmmaker collaborates with Oscar-winning British actress Tilda Swinton and gifts her a plum role as a glam rock doyenne called Marianne Lane, who is recuperating from surgery on her vocal chords. Enforced silence forces Swinton to convey tortuous emotions through movement rather than words, allowing her co-stars to inflict damage with their well-placed verbal grenades.

Marianne has retreated to a villa on Pantelleria with her boyfriend, documentary filmmaker Paul De Smedt (Matthias Schoenaerts), who has tamed her wild, drug-crazed excesses while shaking himself free of alcoholism. One afternoon Marianne receives a telephone call from her old flame, boorish record producer Harry Hawkes (Ralph Fiennes), who has arrived unexpectedly on the island.

It’s clear that Harry has arrived with an ulterior motive – to drive a wedge between the couple – and he has brought along his alluring teenage daughter, Penelope (Dakota Johnson), to distract Paul. Damon Smith