Sorrentino’s Great Coup
Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza) was shunned at the Cannes film festival this year, but last night it won in four categories at the European Film Awards. It was up against Blue Is the Warmest Color which won the Palme d’Or, making Sorrentino’s win a bit of a surprise.
In addition to winning in Directing, Editing and Best Film categories, Toni Servillo’s splendid main role was awarded.
It’s impossible to say for certain, but it appears that the controversy surrounding Blue Is the Warmest Color is mounting to a bit of a backlash. Nevertheless Sorrentino’s film deserves everything it gets as it’s one of the most beautiful films in recent years.
As mentioned in a prior post, Sorrentino’s film was screened in Tallinn’s film festival. I saw it there and liked it immensely. So much so that I’ve been tweeting about it pretty much ever since.
It celebrates the beauty of Rome, but at the same time highlights its less than savoury side. Jep (Toni Servillo) is a journalist living in Rome, whose first and only novel was released decades ago. He’s had a successful life as a Roman socialite, but his failure to finish another novel continues to haunt him. Decadent party going, vacuous working life and the immense beauty of the city mix interestingly to a whole that is ironic, aphoristic and ecstatically lush, sometimes all at once.
The Great Beauty has been compared to Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and Antonioni’s La notte. I think it’s far more reminiscent of Fellini, but it really has a style of its own. It’s both pompous and frolicking art that takes itself too seriously. It mixes beautiful classical pieces (Arvo Pärt et al) with catchy Mediterranean pop tunes (some of it obviously Italian). It has that rare treat of offering something beautiful and true about life in all its ridiculousness.
To my mind it is by far the best film of the year. I’ll leave you with the quote the film begins with from Céline’s Journey to the End of the Night: “To travel is very useful, it makes the imagination work, the rest is just delusion and pain. Our journey is entirely imaginary, which is its strength.”
Trailer on youtube.
