A Bigger Splash

This review may contain spoilers!

This film is boring, dull and pretty much carried by Ralph Fiennes. I would give A Bigger Splash a 2.5/10.

While the plot is very overbearing and drawn out there is a fantastic build to Fiennes' death scene; it's very raw and well executed, a glimpse into what this film could have been with a better narrative. The cinematography is exceptionally unique, I loved how inventive some of the choices made by the director were.

Dakota Johnson, who played Penelope Lanier, is the perfect example of a great Black Widow (not the famous Marvel character but rather the film trope); this is probably one of Johnson's best performances that I've seen. Tilda Swinton, who played Marianne Lane, for a performance that was mostly silent Swinton really brought forward a lot of emotion; her frustration and inner conflict was great to behold.

However the best performance came from Ralph Fiennes, who played Harry Hawkes. Fiennes was a dramatic wild card in this film, he absolutely brimming with an energy I did not expect. His impressions and singing really were a great part of the film and led to some of the more memorable scenes. Fiennes is a master of line delivery and shows it in this film; not least because he has about 80 percent of the dialogue.

The plot for this film is long and dull, you are confronted with a number of varying scenes that don't really excite you nor do they advance the plot or develop the characters. Frankly a lot of this film seems to be going round and round in one big predictable loop right up until Fiennes is killed off. I don't even think there was much of an underlying message to this film as the murder had no consequences. The 'flashbacks' in this film served no narrative purpose and felt a lot like filler scenes. The editing for this film was awkward and felt like someone's first time editing a major film, at the very least the editing made the film drag out longer. The score for this film was minimal and poorly used, the soundtrack was a lot of fun but quite inconsistent.

Matthias Schoenaerts, who played Paul de Smedt, was giving a performance that could have put anyone to sleep; Schoenaerts doesn't seem to put much effort into creating an interesting character. Aurore Clement and Lily McMenamy, who played Mireille and Sylvie respectively, were only in this film to give more people for fiennes to bounce off; frankly these women weren't even treated as characters so much as they were props. Corrado Guzzanti, who played Maresciallo Carabinieri, was an almost cartoon like performance; Guzzanti was certainly not the right actor to be playing a homicide detective. Elena Bucci, who played Clara, had no screen presence in this film; Bucci was a strange go between that didn't really need to be in this film.