This year for the Toronto International Film Festival I was tasked with picking a
film in a very specific time slot for five wildly different people. The only
title which looked promising was The Great
Beauty, but it was Italian and one of our group didn’t like subtitled
movies. It was months away from winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
Despite the required reading, I chose it and crossed my fingers. During the screening,
which I found entrancing, beautiful, and strangely compelling, I couldn’t help
sneak a peak at my movie mates. They all looked like they were basking in the
glow of a great piece of art. That made me happy. We then spent our dinner in
delirious conversation about The Great
Beauty. How often does this happen?
This movie should really be called A Great Performance. In the very
first scene you make eye contact with its star, Toni Servillo, and he will not
let you escape for the entire story. He plays Jep, a lover of Rome and one of
its aging cultural elites. He has just turned 65 and is ruminating about his
life in all its myriad decadence. The younger Jep not only wanted to be the
star of any party, but also wanted to be able to ruin one on a whim. The older
and more nostalgic Jep is much more philosophical and confessional. You might
not like him, but his insights into history, art, and even the human soul will
tie you up.
The lyrical script, written by director Paolo Sorrentino, proves
that there is a positive side to the word intellectual. This guy is a reader
and we are all lucky for that. Sorrentino has been compared to Fellini, so if
you crave more don’t miss our screening of Fellini’s La Dolce Vita on March 20
at 6:15. All Great Stuff!
-Barb
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