On Monday night, I had the pleasure of viewing an advance screening of the movie I Am Love. You know that I love a movie with great fashion and with fashion as an underlying theme. I AM LOVE tells the story of the wealthy Recchi family, whose lives are undergoing sweeping changes. Eduardo Sr., an Italian cloth-magnate and the family patriarch, has decided to name a successor to the reigns of his massive industrial company, surprising everyone by splitting power between his son Tancredi, and grandson Edo. But Edo dreams of opening a restaurant with his friend Antonio, a handsome and talented chef.

But you know that the plot would thicken, right?

After Eduardo Sr. passes, Tancredi, despite the fact that his father wanted to keep the business in the family, is dead set on selling the business. Even though Edo is working with his friend, Antonio to open a restaurant in this amazing remote area in a small Italian town near where they live, he does not want to sell the business.

In between that drama lies Tilda Swinton's character, Emma. Emma, who is draped in Raf Simons of Jil Sander the entire movie, is Russian by birth. However, after meeting Tancredi and moving to Italy, she lets go of her Russian past and begins to live as she puts it, "as an Italian woman." From that day forth, she learned Italian and only spoke Italian. Now back to the clothes. Her wardrobe in this film was phenomenal. In all of the city scenes, she looked incredibly smart, stylish and sophisticated. The Jil Sander's clothes played a big role in helping her to pull that off (in addition to her fabulous acting).

Well, as I said, the plot does thicken. I would guess that if you masqueraded as someone else for years and years, at some point your real self would stand up to be counted. That is exactly what happened. Her son Edo encouraged her to visit Antonio to see the location where they were planning to open their restaurant. So on a trip to see her daughter in London, she did just that. Now what do you think happened? There is something magical about food and food prepared by a beautiful man. I know that is not just my opinion. After sampling some of Antonio's amazing food, passion ensued.

The thing that I love about foreign films is that they have a knack for creating passionate and beautiful love scenes that are seductive and sneaky and extremely intimate. They know how to make you feel like a voyeur - as if you were standing outside of the window with a minimal view watching two people make love. You can't see everything but see enough to know that both are so engaged with what they are doing, that they believe that no one else in the world exists. So incredibly beautiful.

There is another small twist in the movie in that the daughter has discovered that she is a lesbian and has fallen in love with someone who rocks her world. Oddly enough, Emma's discovery of that fact is a catalyst to the dramatic decision that she will make at the end of the movie.

I won't spoil it for you too much more. Go see the movie. The cinematography is gorgeous and it is a great story. You will be moved and startled and blushing and satisfied in the end.

In DC, it is playing at the E. Street Cinema, downtown.