"To be genius is to be unruled. To be unruled is to be alone."
Paul: You're obscene.
Harry: We're all obscene, everyone's obscene. That's the fucking point. We see it and we love each other anyway.
A Bigger Splash is a 2015 film directed by Luca Guadagnino with a screenplay by David Kajanich. It's loosely based off Jacques Derays 1969 film La Piscine.
Rock star Marianne Lane (Tilda Swinton) is on vacation in Italy with her filmmaker boyfriend Paul De Smedt (Matthias Schoenaerts) when her old flame Harry Hawkes (Ralph Fiennes) arrives, with his long-lost daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson) in tow.
- Accidental Murder: Paul was merely trying to subdue Harry and is genuinely horrified to realize that he's drowned him.
- Adaptational Job Change: In La Piscine, Marianne's profession is not specified; she's a rockstar here. Jean-Paul is a writer, while Paul is a filmmaker.
- Adaptational Location Change: La Piscine was set in the South of France. A Bigger Splash is set on Pantelleria.
- Adaptational Nationality: In La Piscine, all of the characters were French. Here, they are English (Marianne), Dutch (Paul), English (Harry), and American (Penelope).
- Age-Gap Romance: Marianne is 18 years older than Paul, but they adore each other regardless.
- Bait-and-Switch: Paul and Marianne are leaving the airport when they're pulled over. . .because the cops wanted her autograph, rather than to arrest Paul.
- Bilingual Backfire: Following her father's death, Penelope angrily chastises two Italian officials talking about him in fluent Italian. Marianne is infuriated to realize that she's known Italian all this time and has only been pretending to be Hiding Behind the Language Barrier.
- But Not Too Foreign: The only party member outside of the Anglophone world is the Dutch Paul. Other than that, they are English (Marianne and Harry) and American (Penelope).
- Did They or Didn't They?: Penelope strips and gestures to Paul that she wants him to join her. The scene cuts there and he never directly answers Harry's question "Did you fuck her?"
- Incest Subtext: Harry and Penelope have a flirty undertone (crossing over into overtone) between them, in part because they didn't know each other until a year ago. In a fight, Harry yells at Marianne that he is "not fucking [his] daughter."
- Fille Fatale: The supposedly early 20's Penelope, who is actually 17, tries to seduce Paul at one point.
- Hidden Depths: Penelope, for all her vapid, dishonest, and seductive ways, breaks down in tears after boarding the plane, indicating that she's devastated at losing her father after barely getting to know him.
- Hypocrite: Despite having slept with Marianne, Harry angrily demands to know if Paul slept with Penelope.
- Pervert Dad: Harry openly calls Penelope sexy and tells Marianne that he "enjoys the sight" of her.
- Really 17 Years Old: Penelope tells Marianne and Paul that she's in her early 20s. When they get a glimpse of her passport, they realize she is in fact only seventeen.
- Rule of Pool: Harry jumps into the pool on his first night at Marianne and Paul's house.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Marianne's Consistent Clothing Style involves a lot of dresses and tops that are either backless or have prominent cutouts in the back.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: Possibly. Penelope strips and gestures to Paul that she wants him to join her. The scene cuts there and he never directly answers Harry's question "Did you fuck her?"
- Smoking Is Glamorous: Penelope smokes and there is a sexually-charged scene where she attempts to force a cigarette on Paul.
- The Voiceless: Marianne, thanks to her throat surgery. She either doesn't talk at all, or does so only at a whisper.