Io sono l'amore (I Am Love)
A 2009 Italian drama by Luca Guadagnino and the fantastic Tilda Swinton (pre-FOX Narnia movies, We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Beach).
In short, after 20 years of being a dutiful glamorous housewife to a successful textile enterpreneur, Russian-nee-Italian Emma Recchi decides to throw caution to the winds and begins to have an illict affair. Partially inspired by her daughter's rebelliousness (by accident, Emma discovers Elisabetta is a lesbian and under the guise of studying in London, she has been hiding this from the rest of the family, due to their very conservative beliefs), Emma falls in love with her son's chef friend, Antonio. To complicate matters further, Antonio beat Eduardo Jnr (Emma's son) to becoming a chef, so instead Eduardo Jnr is lumbered with inheriting the family textile business, which doesn't go too well. Excited by leading a double life and feeling alive for the first time in years, Emma continues to play a dangerous game with Antonio and (barely) outwitting her son and husband but as per these things, the secret is discovered leading to very tragic consequences.
The ending was a little abrupt, but it was a very enjoyable arthouse movie, with excellent use of mere background noise and various excerpts of classical music chosen by John Adams to narrate the story. And watching Tilda Swinton act as the multi-layered conflicted Emma was phenomenal, especially as she had barely any English-language dialogue at all. Totally recommended if you want to lose yourself in the art and drama of another (beliveable) world.