Review: The Great Beauty

The Great Beauty is a visually stunning epic directed by Paulo Sorrentino, set in Berlusconi’s Rome. It stars Toni Servillo as Jep Gambardella, a cynical journalist who once wrote a famous novel. He spends his time partying amongst Italy’s rich and powerful, from cardinals to poets to men who own keys to palaces (no, it’s never explained). But one day a stranger informs Jep of the death of a woman he once loved, and his halcyon decadence is jolted by introspective pondering.

Jep refers to the world’s ‘haggard, inconsistent splashes of beauty’ in ‘the wretched squalor and miserable humanity’, and it seems that a large number of those splashes bounced off the streets of Rome. Every shot is a picture, a Mediterranean Barry Lyndon. The characters’ fine tailoring is a suitable descendant to Casino’s: colour coordinated outfits of dazzling jackets and well-creased silk. Sorrentino’s filming perfectly captures the veneer of glamour through sartorial splendour and fine liquor which masks the dark underbelly of extreme living, just as Scorsese managed in Goodfellas. For example, the parties are so drunken, debauched and wild that it is impossible not to feel enticed, yet we see that at such frequency they would be nauseating. Like a bucket of fried chicken, one might say.

People refer to this film under the shadow of La Dolce Vita, and rightly so. World-weary journalist living among Rome’s idle rich, depressed with his existence and wanting to write a literary work of importance, forever trapped in the haze of cigarette smoke and decadence – this describes them both. Several scenes are highly similar. The poetry, aesthetic beauty and philosophical soul-searching owe much to the neo-realism of Italy’s past. It certainly owes something to Rome: the characters live literally in the shadow of Rome’s historical beauties (Jep’s apartment overlooks the Colosseum). In a way, their late-night wanderings through the beauty spots are as meaningless and pathetic as Marcello’s. There is also a chunk of The Great Gatsby – is the questing playboy moral, immoral, or just complicated?

While little exists in the way of a linear plot, the main narrative focus is Jep’s quest for ‘the great beauty’. This is inspiration for his second novel that he never located in the whirl of Roman high society. It is this profundity, this gravitas which Jep seeks, but his hedonistic lifestyle of late nights and no mornings do not allow it. Again, think of Marcello in La Dolce Vita. It takes religious poverty and frequent mortality to allow his mind to focus on the important aspects of living. Ultimately, it is this quest which proves the most consistently interesting aspect.

At two hours twenty minutes there is much which could, and should, be cut. This was its main drawback: not just the effect on audiences used to 90 minutes, but also the endless scenes of minimal importance convey a sense of arrogance on the part of the director. Moments that may have seemed interesting to Sorrentino don’t necessarily equate to viewers’ enjoyment. In fairness, the incessant nature does work well in conjuring the monotony of Jep’s playboy existence, but this could be confined to a handful of long scenes. Remove the bloated extra hour, as any Hitchcock, Scorsese or Fellini would, and The Great Beauty’s stunning positives will shine brighter.

The Great Beauty is at points entertaining, at others self-indulgent. Overall it is highly interesting, but like a piece of modern art, not like Goldfinger.