The Great Beauty/La Grande Bellezza (2013) or, Jep Gambardelli's Rome

10/03/2015

The Great Beauty/La Grande Bellezza (2013) or, Jep Gambardelli's Rome

♥♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Rome Movie of the Year
+ Best Italian Movie of the Year

Toni Servillo sits by the majestic statue in front of the National Museum in Rome at night on the poster for Paolo Sorrentino's The Great Beauty

Jep Gambardelli is the king of Rome's night life, but he is also an aging bachelor, who has only written one book decades ago.

This soft-mannered, yet pointed vivant, his memories, philosophies and attitude to life is truly worth spending a couple of hours with. He is the character but the film is a sprawling ode to Rome and to life in general. The Great Beauty is an overwhelmingly beautiful, sensorial film with breathtaking photography by Luca Bigazzi (This Must Be the Place (2011)) and an eclectic music universe by Lele Marchitelli (Italian Gangsters (2015)).
Toni Servillo (Il Divo (2008)) as Gambardelli and every actor beneath him act flawlessly. The film alternately chastises contemporary society (mostly) affectionately and engulfs us in otherworldly beauty. It deliberately blends eternal qualities and the notion of the sacrosanct, a higher plane, and earthly beauty with human vanity, idiocy, the ridiculous. Of course it owes a lot to Italian master filmmaker Federico Fellini and especially his Rome-set masterpiece La Dolce Vita (1960), but that seems inevitable for any ambitious Rome-set production dealing with life, love and beauty in modern society. The Great Beauty is its own film.
It is co-written by Umberto Contarello (This Must Be the Place) and director Paolo Sorrentino (The Consequences of Love/Le Conseguenze dell'Amore (2004)). It is a succulent, flamboyant dance with life and among the year's best films. It is too much and just right at the same time. A tall and fatty temptation, not unlike many of the best dishes of the Italian kitchen, which one will want to return to many a time.

Related posts:

Paolo Sorrentino: The day after ... The Oscars 2014

2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

This Must Be the Place (2011) - Sorrentino's Nazi-hunting stoner cracker
The Caiman/Il Caimano (2006) - Moretti's unfunny political comedy - strictly for Italians (actor)

Watch the trailer for the movie with English subtitles here

Cost: 9.2 mil. € or ca. 10.3 mil. $
Box office: 24.2 mil. $
= Flop
[Albeit a small flop. The film played in competition in Cannes, in Toronto International Film Festival and at other festivals, won the Best Foreign Film Oscar and Golden Globe and made its way onto many top 10 lists of the year. It grossed 2.8 mil. $ in North America (12 % of the total gross), and 9.5 mil. $ (39 %) in Italy. Its third biggest market was, curiously, the Netherlands, with 2.7 mil. $ (11 %). The Great Beauty is 91 % Certified Fresh with a critical average of 7.8 on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Great Beauty?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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10/03/2015

The Great Beauty/La Grande Bellezza (2013) or, Jep Gambardelli's Rome

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