The Great Beauty Review

SPOILERS:

Movies about the meaning of life always carry with them an implicit sizable risk. In a cinematic world full of unstimulating and quickly forgettable movies, The Great Beauty ambitiously takes on those risks and succeeds admirably for the most part. Tackling a difficult subject that has been the downfall of many an art house film, The Great Beauty doesn't have anything especially new to say and it doesn't particularly tell us something most of us don’t already know. Be that as it may, with this latest effort, writer-director Paolo Sorrentino delivers a mature film that does what cinema does best: tantalize and engage on a visceral and emotional level. 

Set in the Eternal City of Rome, The Great Beauty thrusts us right in the middle of a decadent world of vapid socialites, over-the-top parties, and self-aggrandizing elites that indulge in every whim and in every carnal desire. And Jep Gambardella (Servillo) is the man who is always at the center of every party. An aging writer for a prestigious cultural column, Jep is our gateway into this fantastical scene that borders on a farcical satire of all things Italian. Once a celebrated and award-winning author of a novel in his early 20s, Jep has rested on his laurels and avoided writing a novel ever since; you quickly get a sense that Jep is a world-weary man who has seen and experienced everything there is to experience and has come to the conclusion that it all hasn’t amounted to very much.

A cynical and caustic observer, Jep regards all his surroundings with a disinterested gaze as the film unfurls rapidly and unevenly around him. He is acquainted with the cultural literati and artists of Rome and can have any beautiful woman he desires but is bored with them all. But after his 65th birthday party and a query about a long awaited second novel, a lifelong search for the meaning of it all begins to torment him more than it ever did in the past. And it is in Rome's superficial high society that Jep seeks to find the answers that he has long been aching for. Throwing in jabs at virtually every aspect of Italian life, this film and its protagonist seem to have something to say on pretty much everything under the sun. We are introduced to the self-involved eccentric denizens of Jep’s world but we don’t always see them through Jep’s judgmental and condemning eyes. Much of that judgment is left for us to make as we sit back and observe the pretensions and follies of Jep and the colorful cast that inhabit his city; all these people are searching for the same thing as Jep but what we soon discover is that their superficial attempts are all in vain. In the midst of his own search, Jep, more often than not, exposes the hollowness of their attempts. From abstract conceptual artists who don’t comprehend their own abstractions, to middle-aged men pursuing narcissistic younger women in an attempt to recapture a long lost youth, to authors with illusory and fragile pretensions that collapse at the merest introspection, to religious leaders more interested in talking about food recipes than the metaphysical mysteries of faith, no one and nothing escapes Jep’s (or the director’s) wrath.  

There’s plenty to sink your teeth into here but much of it is just a flashy show that hints at a deeper significance that passes by too quickly for it to resonate or to be fully fleshed out. Much like the day to day (or to be more accurate, night to night)  whirlwind of Jep’s existence, this film whizzes by all of the social engagements and events of Jep’s life and never lingers anywhere for too long. But perhaps, that’s the point. Behind all the gaudy artifices and benign pleasures on display, The Great Beauty seeks to shed light on the transcending quality of life that lies beneath the crude and deceivingly appealing veneer on the surface. It’s easy to forget that in the middle of the insanity of the endless anecdotes and side stories that director Paolo Sorrentino chooses to show us but the film does have a grounding logic and purpose, as scattered and unfocused as it frequently tends to be. Part dark comedy and part existentialist drama, everything that The Great Beauty embodies is encapsulated in the opening scene. In the blistering heat of the Roman summer and with a choral accompaniment in the background, a Japanese tourist is busy snapping pictures of the ancient city. At that very moment, in the midst of all this history, all this wonder and all this beauty, he collapses from a heart attack and promptly dies on the spot. And it is that cruel and jarring contradiction that is what this movie is all about. We are mere tourists in a life that comes and passes us by in an instant and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by it all. In his old age, Jep realizes this more than most, especially after he receives word that a (supposedly long forgotten) old flame of his has recently passed away. And after a new yet tragically fleeting romance taunts him with what could have been possible, Jep’s journey allows us to get immersed ever further into his world until, just as he undoubtedly also has become, we end up truly and completely repulsed by the shallowness it represents. 

As diluted as the narrative of The Great Beauty eventually becomes, this film is always just simply attempting to answer the following questions: What is important in life? What truly matters? And unlike most films on the subject that tend to end things on an ambiguous note, Jep finds the answer he is looking for, as unremarkable and predictable as that answer is. It is in famed nun Sister Maria, who at first seems like just another humorous jab at meaningless religious conventions, that Jep finds his answer. A Mother Teresa type, the impossibly old-looking nun lives a simple yet happy life that is stripped down to the basic essentials, and it is her words of wisdom that help Jep, a man who has indulged in life’s excesses far too much, to find that elusive beauty and finally find the motivation to write that second novel. And as Jep informs us at the very end, the rest is all a trick. 

Verdict: Ambitious to a fault, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty is a passionately made and exhilarating film that hits the mark more often than it misses and leaves plenty of food for thought for those willing to partake in its journey. 

B

Trailer:

Movie info:

Runtime: 142 minutes

MPAA Rating: NR

Cast: Toni Servillo, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Verdone, Carlo Buccirosso

Director: Paolo Sorrentino

Screenplay: Paolo Sorrentino, Umberto Contarello

Cinematography: Luca Bigazzi