'The Great Beauty': The film's melancholy and partying both feel forced
The Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino has become a darling of the international cinema circuit for such movies as 鈥淚l Divo,鈥� his helter-skelter portrait of politician Giulio Andreotti, and 鈥淭his Must Be the Place,鈥� starring Sean Penn as a mumbly, scraggly rock star. I found both movies, in their very different ways, borderline unwatchable 鈥� all posturing, little substance. His latest opus, 鈥淭he Great Beauty,鈥� Italy鈥檚 submission for the foreign language Oscar, is a kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria starring Toni Servillo as Jep Gambardella, a famous journalist living lavishly in a Rome that seems to feature at least one bacchanal per evening, with the Coliseum often serving as a backdrop.
Sorrentino has set out to out-Fellini Fellini. There are so many gaping mouths, splayed limbs, and gargoyle grins in this film that Fellini鈥檚 heirs should sue. Gambardella, who wrote a celebrated novel, his only one, years before, is turning 65. This puts him in a ruminative mood, which means he doesn鈥檛 always join the conga line. The melancholy in this film is just as trumped up as the frenzy. Grade: C- (Unrated.)
