Tilda Swinton offers up a nuanced performance as an Italian matron who's made compromises in the name of family and comfort. When she meets a young cook who reminds her of her simple past, she's tempted to throw away her fancy clothes and cars - but karma usually exacts a price for following your heart. Imagine Moonstruck with Swinton instead of Cher, and you get a decent idea of what this drama is all about.

Starring: Tilda Swinton, Pippo Delbono, Flavio Parenti, Edoardo Gabbriellini

Rating: Three Stars out of five

Imagine if someone made Moonstruck with earnest intentions and without Nicolas Cage. Now, take that mental image one step further and remove Cher's curly black mop and half-frozen mug from view and replace it with the straight auburn locks and razor-sharp aloofness of Tilda Swinton.

Doesn't scream comedy, does it?

And that's just as well, because Luca Guadagnino's feature about an affluent Italian matron who falls in love with a nature-loving cook is not scripted for yuks or goofy charm.

This is a sincere love story revolving around a woman who has lived a life of comfortable compromise. Emma (Swinton) has been married to Tancredi (Pippo Delbono) for the past two decades, and she seems pretty satisfied when we first meet her at a family dinner for the aging patriarch.

Surrounded by her brood that includes three beautiful children, Emma moves through the fabulously tasteful family villa like a ghost. She is silent, and seems only half-present, as she greets her guests and plays matron to Milanese society.

A former Russian beauty who was packed up and carted off like a Faberge egg to the heart of Italy, Emma put her past behind her as she skyrocketed up the social ladder.

Like many beautiful women who decided to broker good looks for personal security and a rich husband, Emma has pushed her own sexuality to the very back burner, and she doesn't really love Tancredi.

At first, we're not even sure if this is going to be Emma's story, because director Guadagnino immerses us in the immediate reality of a family dinner. As the camera pans the table, and the lens salivates over the food, everyone seems to have a compelling story - whether it's the aging patriarch who wants to pass the torch to the next generation, or the daughter questioning her sexuality.

Emma is very much an observer. The only clue that this may become her story is her central presence in the frame - and Swinton's name on the producer credits.

The plot begins to tilt in her direction when we watch her snoop around her kids' bedrooms. At first, it seems to be little more than a mother wandering through the rooms of the past, communing with a time when the kids were little and she was a young mother full of hope for the future.

Yet, when a CD case tumbles into her lap, she opens it. It contains a romantic message for one of her kids. She's entranced, and as the camera caresses her marble skin in the stark sunlight, we begin to see how stony Emma has become.

Before long, a spring thaw brings fresh blood to her cheeks - and a young lover to her heart - when her son starts up a friendship with a cook.

The cook is intimidated by the great wealth of Emma's family, and he refuses any offers of financial help. However, when he and Emma realize they are drawn to each other, a dangerous and torrid love affair takes off, at the risk of turning everything else to cinders.

Watching Emma let go and rediscover the fleshy part of herself is the big arc in this intimate drama.

But there is a secondary element, and it's the role of the corporate elite in Italian society. Using sparing references to the war, and the many compromises made in the name of capitalism, the movie moves through a moral fog as it explores the nooks and crannies of the Recchi family.

To the director's credit, he refuses easy conclusions and simply acknowledges a universal truth: Corporations, by definition, are more concerned with doing well than doing good.

Several people in this movie negotiate this reality in different ways, but it's really Emma who holds the thematic ball in her long, delicate hands as she attempts to do the right thing, without destroying her own soul.

Because the movie is beautifully executed and gives us a great sense of the Italian establishment - and all its inconsistencies - we can sit back and let the professionals do their jobs.

Guadagnino makes pretty pictures and creates so much texture, you're almost tempted to reach out and run a finger over the celluloid. Yet, for all the sensual pleasures here for the taking, the central romance is a tough sell. I did not buy Emma's relationship to the cook in any profound emotional way. I bought it as a plot device, and nothing more, to unveil the corked-up emotions of the elite.

It's a frustrating gap in the narrative, but one that doesn't prove disastrous. Like any good Italian meal, if you don't like one dish, the next plate is sure to please.

CAPSULE REVIEW: I Am Love (Io sono l'amore):