The Great Beauty
Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty is a movie about an aging but still famous, rich, and admired writer who lives in Rome, is often sad, and yet really knows how to party. Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo) is Rome's top socialite. He knows everyone, and everyone wants to be associated with him. The life he leads in the great city is exactly the life he wanted as a young man: "When I came to Rome at age 26, I didn't want to simply be a socialite, I wanted to become the king of socialites. And I succeeded. I didn't just want to attend parties. I wanted the power to make them fail," he says, as he walks his apartment at dawn after a long night of parties, witty conversations, and sex with a gorgeous and rich middle-aged woman. Jep is 65, lonely, and often thinks about the first and only novel he wrote. Jep loves walking the streets of Rome at night or as the sun rises—he sleeps during the day. Jep lives next to the Coliseum. Jep never bores his friends or the audience watching this excellent movie. This film has a great opening, lots of lushly photographed moments, and ends perfectly. (CHARLES MUDEDE)