Tilda Swinton stars in the Italian family drama, 'I Am Love'

Tilda Swinton is the star and muse of this elegant Italian family drama, ‘I Am Love.’

Tilda Swinton is more than the star of "I Am Love," she’s its muse.

Its director, Luca Guadagnino, conceived the film with her in mind, having already collaborated with her on his first feature, "The Protagonists," and in the documentary "Tilda Swinton: The Love Factory" – a title that could also serve as an alternate to “I Am Love.”

She plays Emma, the Russian-born wife of a Milanese industrialist who is coheir to the family textile business.

When Emma becomes ravishingly entwined with a young chef (Edoardo Gabbriellini), the screen itself seems to swoon.

This is the kind of movie that will inevitably be labeled an exercise in style, but an emotional gravity anchors the luscious pictorialism.

Swinton, who doesn’t look or act like anybody else in the movies, is the perfect embodiment of both the lusciousness and the gravity.

(Rated R for sexuality and nudity.)