“A feast for the eyes” (or senses) and “a love letter to Rome” are the two obvious accolades that came to mind as I watched this lengthy Italian drama, and, sure enough, a Google search revealed both phrases as frequently used descriptors. They’re phrases one might well use on a thinly plotted mood piece such as this, were one trying to compliment it. Or one might compare its auteur, Paolo Sorrentino, to his revered countryman, Federico Fellini. In any case, Sorrentino has a flair for the visually arresting. Whether in long shots of singing nuns in ancient edifices or dizzying close-ups of dancers in a club, as in two lengthy opening sequences, he gives you the sense of being a voyeur. In more than one scene, characters intently watch others for the simple delight of observing. And that is what this film is like.
At the center of all this is Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo), who at 65 is undergoing a self reevaluation. The author of one acclaimed novel in his younger days, he’s made his living since then with celebrity interviews and profiles of weird performance artists. Lots of scenes open with incongruous shots of, say, a nude woman hitting her head against a wall. Jeff himself is a voyeur by both profession and inclination. As to why he has never written another novel, he says it’s because he like to party too much. Not married, he spends his days as a younger man Mike, hanging out in clubs, picking up much younger women, sleeping late, and so on. In the course of several days, he does all of this, has off-kilter conversations with his housekeeper, and meets with old friends.
Parts of this film grabbed me, as when Jep forces his interview subject, the naked head-banger, to explain her meaningless. But this is a self-contained scene; it exemplifies the sometimes brutally candid approach to life but is not a significant plot point. After a succession of such disconnected segments, the movie began to seem long. Also, I don’t necessarily mind a weird movie, or one that mixes in some fantasy sequences, but this movie at times has a kind of studied weirdness that put me off. An example is when Jep gets into an elevator and asks the man next to him about his suit, but the man says nothing. In another segment, Jep delivers a sermon on proper funeral etiquette while watching his love interest try on dresses in the distance. Maybe he’s talking to her, maybe to the audience, maybe to himself, but this seemed odd for the sake of oddness. We are all voyeurs when we watch movies, hoping to see some version of truth, and this movie struck me as a version of something else.
IMDb link
viewed 1/15/14 7:30 at Ritz Bourse; posted 1/20/14
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