So, La Grande Bellezza. Like taking a luxuriant bath in a priceless marble tub filled with the softest water infused with the headiest crystals. Like spending quality time with an old friend that you havent seen for 40 years or perhaps knew of but had never had the pleasure of their company. The scenery is presented knowingly by a Roman resident in much the way that a Londoner wouldnt take an overseas friend to Nelsons column or Westminster, but the niches and crannies that only the locals know and love. Jep Gambardella, the central character, is a saddened, burnt-out sometime author who has lived on the flame of his first and only novel that propelled him into the froth of high society Rome, which he merrily and fully embraced. Now in his Winter years, he looks back and sees the vacuousness of being King of the Socialites but in the same moment continues to caper and frolic as he has always done. An exquisite performance by Toni Servillo, an actor unknown to me but riddled with wit and capable of drawing a wry smile or chuckle from me with little more than a fractional eyebrow adjustment or a minor moue in response to the constant parade of superficiality before him. Jep delights in skewering the hubristic and spoiled alike, never shying from dipping his pen or tongue in acid and writing or saying precisely what he sees. This is a film to see again for its visual delights and its unselfconscious pulling back of the velvet curtain obscuring the empty lives and pastimes of the jet set from us commoners. No punches are pulled and of course its all the more delicious for that. Plus we get some beautiful, haunting music to colour the unfolding sights. This is the best non-English film Ive seen since the Nightwatch/Daywatch duology. Even though they are worlds apart in subject matter, there is something about each that carries depth and truth. A worthy award winner and fully recommended.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 01:12:44 +0000
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