La gran belleza

Episodios de la vida de la flor y nata romana, que son en sí mismos el glamur cinematográfico. Joya pictórica, abstracta no sólo visualmente sino también en contenido. Pero no se puede absorber todo a la vez, esa cantidad de pensamientos y reflexiones, hay que verla más veces. E incluso si no logra absorberlo todo después de verla varias veces, se quedará atontado con su atmósfera y elegancia. Una consonancia de la cámara y el montaje, que deja sin palabras. Sorrentino es un extraterrestre. La primera fiesta con música en La gran belleza mete en el bolsillo todo el metraje de El gran Gatsby. (05.07.2013)

Gran, maravillosa aburrimiento o aburrida maravilla? No comparto el entusiasmo generalizado en todo el mundo. La gran maravilla se basa en tres pilares: la excelente actuación de Toni Servilla, la deslumbrante exhibición visual y la asombrosa escena de fiesta de varios minutos al comienzo. En mi opinión, las historias fuertes son las que prevalecen y aquí las extraño. Aunque se abordan varios temas, prácticamente no sucede nada durante las casi dos horas de duración. Si fuera un jurado que otorga todo tipo de premios, incluidos los imposibles, que esta película ha ganado, no dudaría ni un minuto y votaría por la competidora Hon (Honor). He visto la escena inicial cuatro veces y probablemente la volveré a ver varias veces más, pero aparte de eso, no me embriago de Italia, Roma y el sobrevalorado Sorrentino. En este caso, no sigo a la multitud. (18.10.2014)

Crisis as a pose, beauty as the only principle of construction. Sometimes it works wonderfully (the introduction and the conclusion), whilst other times it's empty, ostentatious, unnecessarily eloquent and awkwardly theatrical. Even the biting irony is only about halfway there. Sorrentino is an excellent director, but unlike Fellini's "Roman frescoes", which are internally experienced and in every chord accurate, he realizes the idea of a nostalgic protagonist in crisis much less convincingly, but all the more heinously and loudly. A film that plays at being a classic just like the protagonist plays at being a blessed man of the world. Sorrentino had already made films that are an order of magnitude better, but also less affectionate. (02.07.2013)

“È solo un trucco.” Sorrentino picks up where Fellini left off. The exchange of views between Jep and Wilhelmina the girls from the convent school, separated from the protagonist by a screen, is strikingly reminiscent of the ending of La Dolce Vita. Whereas Marcello is only just entering the world of Rome’s upper crust, Jep Gambardella has already been there and done that, and (later) understood that authentic life is lived on the other side, not only in the spatial sense, but also in the temporal sense –  the protagonist takes refuge from the all-pervasive emptiness in memories of his childhood, when he was still unknowledgeable, when he was only just becoming aware. If his wandering as a unknowledgeable flâneur, which we are witnesses to, teaches him anything, it’s the fact that we cannot deny ourselves or our own story. ___ The most spiritually valuable moments of Jep’s profane existence are not the direct confrontation with religious symbols, but encounters with innocence (girls, lovers kissing) and with passing time (the time-lapse photography project) and brief glimpses into reality, which is just as fleeting as beauty and love. A very brief encounter with Fanny Ardant, who elegantly carries with her the characters from every film in which she has appeared, brings about an hour-long visit to a church. During these moments, Jep perhaps realises that though he may know everyone and can go anywhere, the values that are worth striving for remain difficult for him to attain. ___ The Great Beauty is a film of a time and society without narrative potential. All of the stories had already been told, so what remains is only the recycling of familiar situations and mechanical alteration of the actors, roles and props. Time and movement became irrelevant. Despite that, Sorrentino managed to make a film that pulsates with life, though it is about a world that rejects two basic characteristics of cinema and also about a life that has no direction. ___ Thanks to the ceaseless movement of the camera, the surprising alternation of shot types (the various ways in which they are linked would be worthy of a separate analysis), the placement of unexpected objects in the mise-en-scéne and the lively soundtrack, which doesn’t distinguish between Bizet and Italian pop, The Great Beauty never stops flowing and doesn’t let you leave the cinema until the house lights come up. Only later you can start to process the implied ideas and fill in the empty space that has been spread out before you. 85% (30.10.2013)

A lot of ideas, a whole bunch of opinions and a brutal deal of philosophizing. And on top of that you get a visual side that will make many an eye melt away. I accept all that, but at the same time it wasn’t an easy movie for me to handle the first time. I will definitely watch it again… someday. But now please give me a moment to fully realize what it was that I actually saw. The Great Beauty is a crazy critique of a society. A critique of fleetingness, arrogance, vanity… and some of the scenes were so crazy I don’t think I will ever get them out of my head. (04.01.2014)