While vacationing on a Sicilian island with her boyfriend, a rock star receives an unexpected visit from an old flame and his seductive daughter. A film by Luca Guadagnino, starring Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson, Matthias Schoenaerts, Tilda Swinton, Aurore Clément, Elena Bucci, Lily McMenamy, and Corrado Guzzanti.

Marianne (Tilda Swinton), the world-renowned rock singer, learns to navigate the temporary loss of her voice after surgery, communicating through sign language and occasional whispers.

Marianne and her filmmaker lover Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts) travel to the small Italian island of Pantelleria, where she recovers from surgery while Paul heals from alcohol addiction and a suicide attempt, despite neither of them speaking Italian.

Pantelleria is a volcanic Italian island belonging to Sicily, located in the Strait of Sicily about 106 km southwest of Sicily and near Tunisia, renowned for its stark black lava landscapes, natural hot springs, and UNESCO-protected dry stone walls. It’s particularly significant for its unique viticulture, producing the renowned Passito di Pantelleria wine from Zibibbo grapes cultivated in crater-like giardini panteschi enclosures, as well as therapeutic thermal baths like Lago Specchio di Venere, where visitors enjoy natural mud spa treatments.

Their idyllic retreat in a secluded villa is disrupted by the surprise arrival of Harry (Ralph Fiennes), a music producer, Marianne’s ex-lover, and Paul’s mentor, who, vacationing in Rome, decides to catch a plane to the island of Pantelleria.

At the airport, Harry introduces his recently discovered, 22-year-old daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson), to everyone. During their dinner, Marianne invites Harry and Penelope to stay at her villa after learning that Paul had not made a hotel reservation, which was likely to be fully booked during the San Gaetano festival.

The San Gaetano festival, also known as the Feast of Saint Cajetan (or San Gejtanu in Maltese), honors the 16th-century Italian saint who aided the poor and pioneered early banking reforms like the Monte di Pietà. It is prominently celebrated in places like Ħamrun, Malta, around 6-7 August, with rival band clubs in red and blue, dramatic street processions carrying the saint’s statue up church steps, fireworks, food stalls, and music marches that draw huge crowds. Smaller versions occur in Rinella on Salina Island, Italy, featuring Eucharistic rites and processions linked to historical trade ties. Saint Cajetan’s official feast day is 7 August; in Malta, it ranks among the island’s biggest village fiestas, blending deep faith, community rivalry, and spectacle.

Harry accepts her invitation and begins inviting his friends to the villa as if he were its owner, taking them sightseeing and attending festivities. His arrogance annoys Paul, but Marianne begins to succumb to his charm once again.

Luca Guadagnino’s psychological drama A BIGGER SPLASH takes viewers on a thrilling ride through the unsettling relationships between four characters as they spiral towards a terrifying, unexpected, yet satisfying conclusion.

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@pradt

A BIGGER SPLASH 🌊
Honesty is the greatest fidelity.
—
A film by Luca Guadagnino, starring Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson, Matthias Schoenaerts, Tilda Swinton, Aurore Clément, Elena Bucci, Lily McMenamy, and Corrado Guzzanti.

The filmmaker cleverly uses extreme close-ups to elevate and aggravate the tension of the scenes. The cast delivers sublime performances, especially Tilda Swinton and Ralph Fiennes. The film features one of the most memorable scenes in cinema, in which Harry dances to “Emotional Rescue” by The Rolling Stones.

A BIGGER SPLASH premiered at the Biennale di Venezia on 6 September 2015. The film was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on 12 February 2016, by StudioCanal, and in the United States on 4 May.

A BIGGER SPLASH serves as the second installment in Luca Guadagnino’s Desire Trilogy, following io Sono l’Amore.