Italian maestro Paolo Sorrentino’s rhapsodic, visually dazzling and satirical 2014 Oscar-winner is the worthy successor to Fellini’s La Dolce Vita.
Jep Gambardella was once hailed as a literary genius for his debut novel, but in the years since has plied his trade as a columnist for a Rome newspaper. A giant amongst the city’s high society, he nevertheless feels he has failed in life. And he sees the world he once embraced as a venal, self-interested place. But how to escape the present and recapture the spirit and romanticism of his youth?
Sorrentino regular Toni Servillo – who would later play Berlusconi in the director’s Loro – is outstanding as Gambardella, at once charming and needy, smart and insecure. And the ensemble cast perfectly captures the grotesquery of this world. But the true star is Rome itself, which Sorrentino dazzling captures in all of its grandeur.
