The Great Beauty is a very deeply
sensual representation of a 65 year old man Jep Gambardella and his life,
expectations, repents and joys. Mysterious in a very dramatic and unfamiliar way
this movie brings a great deal of art in one bag and let the viewer to explore Jep’s
illusions and realities through a mix of tastes and concepts. At times it seems
like the story shatters and runs in all directions but it is like a fine cloth woven
in separate pieces that comes to a whole in the hands of a master tailor. And no
doubt it is one of the finest of contemporary cinema.
Jep (Toni Servillo) is an aging
writer who has written one book read by many and bought respect 40 years back.
Now he is living a comfortable life surrounded by his party hard aged circle of
friends and writing columns in a prestigious newspaper. In a society influenced
by connections and the rich and famous flocks with like minds Jep spends the
majority of his day active at night. But after his 65th birthday he
realizes that his life has being empty for some reason and a sudden encounter
with someone that reminds him of his first love stirs his emotions and
memories.
As mentioned earlier The Great
Beauty is a jumble of many sorts of art. It has poems, songs, dances, performance
arts as in stage plays and magic, Painting such as modern and renaissance and
even sculpture. This many sorts of mixed arts bring in a very bizarre disposition
to this movie and the cinematography is superior at each element. The other key
player is music. You will hear many types of music one after the other and the
emotional beauty is certainly enhanced in each level no doubt.
You will get to see the Roman
grandeur in perfect cinematic angles and explore some of the fine pieces of
sculpture in candle light. And meet various characters of the society with
taste of fashion dressed in fine clothing even in funerals. And the journey takes
the viewer through vividly lit night clubs and lavishly furnished condominiums
and roof tops of the fortunate. All these elements adds spice to Jep’s
lifestyle filled with witty and at the same time sarcastic dialogues.
Leaving the technicalities aside
the single most powerful strength of The Great Beauty is its beautiful script
and representation of the plot. However it’s like a two edged blade where some
of you might completely agree and move with the flow while the rest might curse
and leave the cinema hall for wasting their precious time. But the latter kind
will be seldom as either your hooked or slipped within the first few minutes of
the movie. If the journey looks promising you will find many goodies along the
way.
Genre: Drama
Director : Paolo Sorrentino
