I Am Love

When the film opens Emma is the typical wife. She runs the household, interacts with the staff, and takes care of her family. It’s clear that she isn’t happy with her life at the present time. Although she has spent a lot of time planning the party, she arrives late and leaves early. As the movie progresses her character becomes more self-serving and pro-active towards her happiness. She begins by going Sanremo, where she knows Antonio and Edoardo are planning to open their restaurant. This decision changes her relationship with her children. Betta becomes closer to her mother and Edo becomes estranged when he begins to suspect the affair. Emma seems to be happier after she begins her affair—it seems like she has more of a presence.

By the end of the film Emma has chosen the path she wants to follow in the future. She has left her husband to be with Antonio. I don’t think she is necessarily liberated, but she is working towards that goal. I think that she will be able to embrace her Russian heritage more now that she is no longer dominated by Tancredi and his father. I think that Emma has realized that nothing lasts forever, so she minds as well be happy while she can. It seems like she planned on being on her marriage with Tancredi forever, whether or not they were in love. Now she has made a choice to experience all she can.

During the course of the semester we have women from many different angles. I think that this film draws parallels to many of the materials that we have studied. A criticism of this film, and possible of all that we have studied, is that, “the narrative of this slow-paced film is uninteresting and full of cliché.” Merriam Webster dictionary defines cliché as “something that has become overly familiar or commonplace.” The narrative may seem to be full of clichés but the fact is that these situations still exist. If they weren’t real the cliché never would have existed in the first place. I think that part of the reason for this criticism is that people don’t want to admit that women are generally the disadvantaged and unhappy parties because they are seen as less important and less powerful than men.