A 21st-century masterpiece and one of the most analyzed and acclaimed films of recent years, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza) tells the story of an aging journalist and man about town, once a promising novelist who has since filled his life with the shallow pursuits of trendy high society. The “town” in question is Rome, Italy; the pursuits take him through some of the Eternal City’s most beautiful and mysterious locations as well as the moral and spiritual emptiness of life in the Berlusconi era. Often compared with Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960), Sorrentino’s work recalls various other highlights of Italian cinema but emerges as a wholly original tale, its melancholy view of lost love and dashed dreams tempered by flashes of hope and extraordinary beauty. The film made the best-of-the-year lists of many prominent critics (and Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar) and in 2016 was ranked among the 100 greatest since 2000 in an international poll of 177 critics. It also won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The central character, Jep Gambardella, is played by Toni Servillo, a frequent Sorrentino collaborator (10 films, including Il Divo, 2008, and the upcoming The Hand of God, 2021). The film is a feast of dichotomies – old and young, ancient and contemporary, sacred and profane, upper and lower class, cultured and oblivious – not least in the brilliant soundtrack, which mixes compositions by the likes of Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki, Georges Bizet and William Blake with pounding electronic dance music and pop songs by Annie Lennox and Damien Jurado. The film was shot entirely in Rome, with an excursion to Tuscany’s Isola del Giglio, where Jep pointedly observes the wreckage of the infamous cruise ship, the Costa Concordia. This is roughly the climax of his soul-searching journey, but as Peter Bradshaw said in his review in The Guardian, “for its intense, unbearable melancholy, the final end-title sequence has to be watched through to the very end until the screen goes dark.”
by Rob Nixon
The Great Beauty
Brief Synopsis
Journalist Jep Gambardella's 65th birthday and a shock from the past cause him to examine his status as a fixture of Rome's literary and social circles.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Paolo Sorrentino
Director
Toni Servillo
Carlo Verdone
Sabrina Ferilli
Pamela Villoresi
Roberto Herlitzka
Film Details
Also Known As
Den stora skönheten, Den store skjønnheten, Den store skønhed, Didis Gro?is, Di?ais skaistums, Grande Beleza, Great Beauty, La grande bellezza, Muhtesem Güzellik, Neskoncna lepota, Suuri kauneus, Velká nádhera, Wielkie piekno, gran belleza, grande bellezza, nagy szépség
MPAA Rating
Genre
Drama
Foreign
Release Date
2013
Production Company
Babe Films ; Medusa Film ; Monopole Pathe Films Ag ; PathT International
Distribution Company
JANUS FILMS/MONGREL MEDIA/M+TROPOLE FILMS DISTRIBUTION; A-One Films (Russia) ; Abc Distribution ; Camera Film ; Cinema Mondo ; Cinemien ; Criterion Collection ; Curzon Artificial Eye ; Europa Filmes ; Fidalgo ; Film Europe ; Filmladen Gmbh ; Fivia ; Independenta ; Janus Films ; Medusa Film ; Mongrel Media ; Métropole Films Distribution ; Palace Films ; PathT International ; Prior Entertainment ; Prior Record Group ; United International Pictures ; Wanda Visión S.A. ; ZON Lusomundo (now part of NOS Audiovisuals) ; Zeta Films (Argentina)
Technical Specs
Duration
2h 22m
Synopsis
Journalist Jep Gambardella's 65th birthday and a shock from the past cause him to examine his status as a fixture of Rome's literary and social circles.
Director
Paolo Sorrentino
Director
Film Details
Also Known As
Den stora skönheten, Den store skjønnheten, Den store skønhed, Didis Gro?is, Di?ais skaistums, Grande Beleza, Great Beauty, La grande bellezza, Muhtesem Güzellik, Neskoncna lepota, Suuri kauneus, Velká nádhera, Wielkie piekno, gran belleza, grande bellezza, nagy szépség
MPAA Rating
Genre
Drama
Foreign
Release Date
2013
Production Company
Babe Films ; Medusa Film ; Monopole Pathe Films Ag ; PathT International
Distribution Company
JANUS FILMS/MONGREL MEDIA/M+TROPOLE FILMS DISTRIBUTION; A-One Films (Russia) ; Abc Distribution ; Camera Film ; Cinema Mondo ; Cinemien ; Criterion Collection ; Curzon Artificial Eye ; Europa Filmes ; Fidalgo ; Film Europe ; Filmladen Gmbh ; Fivia ; Independenta ; Janus Films ; Medusa Film ; Mongrel Media ; Métropole Films Distribution ; Palace Films ; PathT International ; Prior Entertainment ; Prior Record Group ; United International Pictures ; Wanda Visión S.A. ; ZON Lusomundo (now part of NOS Audiovisuals) ; Zeta Films (Argentina)
Technical Specs
Duration
2h 22m
Articles
The Great Beauty
The Great Beauty
A 21st-century masterpiece and one of the most analyzed and acclaimed films of recent years, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza) tells the story of an aging journalist and man about town, once a promising novelist who has since filled his life with the shallow pursuits of trendy high society. The “town” in question is Rome, Italy; the pursuits take him through some of the Eternal City’s most beautiful and mysterious locations as well as the moral and spiritual emptiness of life in the Berlusconi era. Often compared with Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960), Sorrentino’s work recalls various other highlights of Italian cinema but emerges as a wholly original tale, its melancholy view of lost love and dashed dreams tempered by flashes of hope and extraordinary beauty. The film made the best-of-the-year lists of many prominent critics (and Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar) and in 2016 was ranked among the 100 greatest since 2000 in an international poll of 177 critics. It also won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The central character, Jep Gambardella, is played by Toni Servillo, a frequent Sorrentino collaborator (10 films, including Il Divo, 2008, and the upcoming The Hand of God, 2021). The film is a feast of dichotomies – old and young, ancient and contemporary, sacred and profane, upper and lower class, cultured and oblivious – not least in the brilliant soundtrack, which mixes compositions by the likes of Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki, Georges Bizet and William Blake with pounding electronic dance music and pop songs by Annie Lennox and Damien Jurado. The film was shot entirely in Rome, with an excursion to Tuscany’s Isola del Giglio, where Jep pointedly observes the wreckage of the infamous cruise ship, the Costa Concordia. This is roughly the climax of his soul-searching journey, but as Peter Bradshaw said in his review in The Guardian, “for its intense, unbearable melancholy, the final end-title sequence has to be watched through to the very end until the screen goes dark.”by Rob Nixon
