Often, that surface, like the perfect life that Emma appears to lead in I Am Love, conceals an imperfect truth.

As the delicate plate of prawns with sweet-and-sour vegetables is presented to Emma and she takes it in with her eyes, Guadagnino bathes her in a warm light as if the film’s negative itself is flushed and aroused. Playing it safe gets it done, but if you want a sense of renewal and excitement, step outside of your comfort zone. But there are also more erotic connotations to be found in individual elements of the mise-en-scène, where the film’s complex language of touch – between characters and objects, and then later between Elio and Oliver – deepens.MacKinnon argued that women, in the context of patriarchy, are not free to experience sexual pleasure but are subject, rather, to an androcentric, eroticized violence.

Lorde suggests that if we suppress the erotic rather than recognize its presence, it takes on a different form. This cornerstone is about ritualised acting out of dominance and submission, negotiations and exchanges.Later, after a trip to the market where Harry declares to Marianne that he has come to Pantelleria for her and not the island’s famous capers, they stop at the home of locals who make and sell ricotta.