The Great Beauty (2013)

Viewed by many as Paulo Sorrentino’s magnum opus, The Great Beauty won the Oscar for best foreign language film in 2014. Long time Sorrentino collaborator Toni Servillo (just wonderful in everything he does) plays Jep Gambardella, an aging writer who after his sixty-fifth birthday party celebrations (that the film opens with) starts to question his approach to life, whilst remembering his one true love from teenhood who he finds out has recently died. I can’t think of anyone who shoots cities more beautifully than Sorrentino, and he doesn’t let you down here; the intimate yet sweeping way he shoots Rome is a feast for the eyes and ears. For me, The Great Beauty isn’t as much about Rome as The Hand Of God is about Naples (my favourite film of 2021), but I know many argue that it’s solely about Rome. The Great Beauty is very much about the visuals as well as the conversations; Jep philosophically begins to question everything with his glamorous friends and lifestyle. As always with Sorrentino, you can feel Fellini’s influence at the edges, most notably in this case 8 ½ (1963). Jep and his friends are convivial to the extreme, there are several lavish parties throughout the film but as it goes on, Jep seems more and more on the peripheral of the group rather than front and center as he gets to grips with his own existence and mortality. There’s one occasion in which Jep can’t hold his feelings inside after disagreeing with one of his friends, and lets it all out; not angrily, just steadily, and it’s the one occasion where he lets it all go. It’s a beautiful moment in a beautiful film, made all the better for the calm way in which Jep expresses himself. The Great Beauty isn’t my favourite Sorrentino film, that accolade probably still lies with Il Divo (2009) or The Hand Of God (2021); but it’s yet another feather in the cap of a director who is fast becoming one of my most cherished. 8.4/10