The Great Beauty (Italian: La grande bellezza), 2013.
Written and Directed by Paolo Sorrentino.
Starring Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone and Sabrina Ferilli.
SYNOPSIS:
Jep Gambardella, doyen of the chattering classes, undergoes an existential crisis.
Paolo Sorrentino, riding high on previous successes, most notably Il Divo, comes to Cannes with a Roman tale of Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo). Jep is in publishing, famous for his interviews and the one book he wrote as a young man. The film’s opening scene is that of a hedonistic party to celebrate Jep’s 65th birthday: there are strippers, lecherous old men, a bevy of beautiful women, but also some grotesques, and a dwarf. That’s right – we are in a Fellini movie. The partygoers are part of Italy’s dolce vita, out for a good time and all the pleasures they can afford, and Jep is very much a part of this group. He parties until dawn, breakfasts at three and then starts all over again. When asked why he hasn’t written his second novel, he states that the city offers up too many distractions, whereas a writer needs peace. It is peace that Jep gradually seeks out as the film progresses.
Sorrentino is a wonderful filmmaker and The Great Beauty has some stunning and powerful images, mainly of an apparently deserted city: Rome as an empty capital a clear metaphor for the vacuousness of the rich who inhabit it. Unfortunately, Sorrentino appears too fond of showing us these beautifully shot sequences to offer us any kind of clear narrative. The screenplay, written by Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello, cannot carry the heavy visual load.
Some of this narrative contains a subplot about a 104-year-old nun who has come to Rome in order to be sanctified by the Pope. What the script doesn’t lack are some pithy one-liners: when hearing how old the nun is, Jep’s mate gasps “I thought she was older!” But this saintly nun has little to do with Jep’s journey towards self discovery. As with many Italian films, the protagonist seeks out the help of a Catholic priest, in this case a cardinal and rumoured exorcist (“the best in Europe!”). But the cardinal is only interested in handing out culinary advice, the spiritual something of his past now that he is ensconced in the circles of Rome’s high society. Priests, cardinals and nuns abound throughout the film but not for any particularly good reason.
Other characters come and go. Jep begins a relationship with the daughter of an old friend, but she soon disappears from view, as does his best mate. Whilst these comings and goings could be passed off as a way of depicting the superficial and ephemeral aspects of Jep’s life, what they really do is highlight some bad story telling.
This is too bad. Sorrentino is a gifted director and hopes were high for The Great Beauty. As always, Toni Servillo proves himself to be Italy’s finest and most chameleon of actors, but alas here his great skills are not enough to save the film. Nevertheless, this is not to write off Sorrentino. We will just have to wait a little longer for his next great movie.
Flickering Myth Rating: Film ★ ★ ★ / Movie ★ ★ ★
Jo Ann Titmarsh
Originally published May 21, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
