An all-star cast in the roles of lovers and old friends, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson and Matthias Schoenaerts open a Pandora’s Box of old memories on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
Rock legend Marianne Lane is recuperating after her vocal-cord surgery on the volcanic island of Pantelleria, located between Sicily and Tunisia, with her younger lover Paul. Their heavenly break is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of iconoclast record producer and old flame Harry who brings his pampered daughter Penelope. What’s more, he also brings with him a blast of delirious nostalgia, haunting memories that ruffle the vacationers’ feathers and unleash a torrent of emotions from which there can be no rescue.
"I envisioned a film about love, beauty, desire, sex, sexuality and the danger of an old lover who by his own presence and actions can trigger destructive behaviour and bring back the pasts of our lead characters. And by unleashing this past, our characters are drawn into their truest version of themselves and enter a tangled nexus of sex and burning desire, pushing them to a dark side."
- Luca Guadagnino
Luca Guadagnino
Born in 1971 in Palermo, Italy, Guadagnino spent his childhood in Ethiopia. He graduated in history and critics of cinema from Rome’s University La Sapienza, with a thesis on film director Jonathan Demme. His feature debut, The Protagonists, screened at the Venice Film Festival. Since then his films have often featured British actress Tilda Swinton.
