An extraordinary, vibrant single-shot rooftop party launches The Great Beauty as ageing author Jep Gambardella reflects on a life of shallow yet exquisite beauty.
Celebrating his 65th birthday, with his terraced penthouse overlooking the Colosseum, revered one-book wonder Gambardella (Toni Servillo) has charmed and seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades. Having arrived in the city 40 years earlier, as a socialite and newspaper columnist, he has reached the zenith in being the king of society and his opinions are craved. Yet Gambardella questions those years as he voyeuristically meanders through his beloved adopted city, catching glimpses of momentary absurdity, lunching with his publisher Dadina (Giovanna Vignola), conversing with long-term friend and wannabe playwright Romano (Carlo Verdone). As the futility of life spent becomes increasingly apparent, so friends and associates die off or disperse out of Rome. Yet, in all his wonderings and the meeting of new love, ex-stripper Ramona (Sabrina Ferelli) with her own secrets, Gambardella believes that he has the beginnings of his second novel.
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino, La grande bellezza is his homage to Federico Fellini’s La dolce vita. Not only is the Oscar-winning feature set among a lifestyle of excess, fame and pleasure focussing on a journalist and seducer, but also uses a similar narrative structure. The more traditional plot and character development is eschewed in favour of a series of non-linear encounters. The result is sumptuous yet overly indulgent – like Gambardella’s self-reflections, shallow yet exquisitely beautiful. Like La dolce vita, it’s all style over substance.
Won best foreign language film Oscar in 2014
Rating: 61%
Director: Paolo Sorrentino (The Hand of God, Loro)
Writer: Paolo Sorrentino (The Hand of God, Loro), Umberto Contarello (Loro, This Must Be the Place)
Main cast: Toni Servillo (Il divo, Loro), Carlo Verdone (Il mio miglior nemico, Manual of Love), Sabrina Ferelli (La bella vita, Tutta la vita davanti)
An Opinion or Two 