[critical] La Grande Bellezza

Aristocrats, managed, politicians, criminals, journalists, actors, decadent nobles, artists and intellectuals, wove reports inconsistent, all phagocytosed in a Babylon desperate that flutters in the palace ancient, the huge villas, the most beautiful terraces of the city. And they do not show in their best light. Jep Gambardella, 65, a writer and journalist, indolent and disenchanted, his eyes perpetually soaked in gin and tonic, to be present at this parade of humanity as a hollow and defeat, powerful and depressing. And in the background, Rome in the summer.

Author’s Note

[rating:8/10]

• Release Date : May 22, 2013

• Directed by Paolo Sorrentino

• With Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Iaia Forte, Isabella Ferrari, Vernon Dobtcheff

• Movie Italian

• Duration : 2h30min

• Original title : La Grande Bellezza

• Trailer :

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The vertigo of life. Not only that which surrounds us, but also our own. And when you are an elderly person, the life is great thing. For the simple reason that there is no future to build. The future belongs to the past. This is the whole point of the film of Sorrentino. A writer old question, becoming more and more melancholic. And it is there that one wonders what could have been otherwise. It makes you wonder what we could change.

In fact, Jep Gambardella looks back. But this life, in the past, seems to be empty. And it is this that is most grostesque in life. This impression that each year of our life has no meaning. That all these years have not yielded anything. It is for this reason that Paolo Sorrentino wonders if one can still find beauty. This great beauty, is it still possible then that our life is made ? It is always said that it is necessary to take advantage of every moment (like the feasts in the film). But should we not also build its future ? Ensure happiness and usefulness ? Jep Gambardella is to this question, his gaze remaining on the emptiness of life in the past, to hope all over again.

Beyond his own life, Jep Gambardella attends to the daily life of the are human. Through the other characters in the film, Paolo Sorrentino tells us that our actions are ridiculous. That our words are wind. The approach of death so this would not be the only deprivation. The human would be in constant decay. This film is like a moment of grace in our lives. Illuminate the wanderings of the human, to question their usefulness. But at least, Paolo Sorrentino has the merit of film all his characters on an equal footing.

After all, our life – and we ourselves-are futile. Hence the melancholy. This way to accept the void, to accept the grotesque social. It is all the same a film enough political and social. Paolo Sorrentino we filmed the people are poor and hypocritical. Because in the end, everyone is the same. And you can see that very well in the style of the filmmaker. Like its main character, Paolo Sorrentino loves the stories and the meetings. Exactly like with Oh Boy by Jan Ole Gerster, these meetings are scheduled in random mode. Suddenly, we are seeing more of a chronicle of life, rather than a generality of life.

For this, Paolo Sorrentino’s all in the restraint. This film is very contemplative. As we look back, in the void and nothingness. As everything is futile, there is nothing to say. And Paolo Sorrentino is used to integrate a burlesque to his story. Despite the emptiness of life and the melancholy that dominate the film, Paolo Sorrentino takes the opportunity to put a sense of humor. Being too serious is too boring, too painful. All the talk about all this with nostalgia.

The music and the end credits are proof. Paolo Sorrentino films the emptiness and disillusioned so as to make them vulgar. But the Italian film-maker does not make a thread linear. As soon as Jep Gambardella appears, vulgarity disappears. Instead, the film shows much of love and humanity. Despite the cynicism that one might expect, Jep Gambardella we book a facet of her very tender. We can see it in his eyes and his attitudes, he is always in search of beauty in the world.

And when you look at the colors of the film, Paolo Sorrentino is influenced. There is something of Fellini in this film. Already by the side of the baroque, but especially by the visit of Rome. Paolo Sorrentino we filmed Rome like a dream and a myth. Beyond the search for beauty in the background, there is a formal search. Rome is like a fantasy of beauty. Every plan, every movement, are a poetry rare. A poetry that could almost be described as very Italian.

A poetry that is found in a spirituality. Paolo Sorrentino is here as a painter. Some aspects of which are religious. Disturbing, but the writing is very smart. In the Face of all the questions of the main character, the female singers who end the film has a message. With this choir, Paolo Sorrentino tells us that there may be hope. To find the beauty, and it does not seem to exist.

Finally, La Grande Bellezza is a film that is baroque and burlesque at once. But that is not the main. With a formality very fellinien, Paolo Sorrentino book a Rome a dream and full of myths. He uses this poetic fresco to talk about social and political. Through its main character, the Italian film-maker asks if we can start all over again. Once our life almost ended, we look back, we take stock. A balance of life that is depressing : emptiness, mediocrity and hypocrisy. In the Face of this festival of futility human, Paolo Sorrentino seeks beauty.