FRANCE: Rome in splendour, Italy in demise in La Grande Bellezza at Cannes festival

Record ID: 187260

  • Title: FRANCE: Rome in splendour, Italy in demise in La Grande Bellezza at Cannes festival
  • Date: 22nd May 2013
  • Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 22, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CANNES DURING THE DAY PAOLO SORRENTINO BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) PAOLO SORRENTINO, SAYING: "It's not a criticism of the high life, it's rather a representation of a world which makes me feel indulgent and also makes me feel a sense of tenderness vis-a-vis this world and the fact of showing off all this amusement in reality there is to be perceived that there is pain and there is suffering and if there is a criticism, the criticism lies in the representation of Jep and also on other characters that they are spoiling their lives. This is a sort of criticism of Italy because Italy has missed many opportunities that she should have caught." SORRENTINO BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) PAOLO SORRENTINO, SAYING: "I don't believe in inspiration. I believe in applying hard work every day so contrary to Jep, I work a lot -- I don't waste my time." SORRENTINO BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) PAOLO SORRENTINO, SAYING: "I don't know but I hope it really is as you say because I really would like to silence all those people in Italy that keep on criticising and keep on highlighting negative aspects even if when there aren't any, so I have to say to be at a festival where other movies representing the other countries of the world are absent, Italy is present so this is positive. I really hope so." VARIOUS OF SORRENTINO
  • Embargoed: 6th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA4YKFJP0MQUVOYYX0KL4LURJ3X
  • Story Text: Paolo Sorrentino's "La Grande Bellezza" ("The Great Beauty"), a nostalgic, melancholic ode to the eternal city of Rome, is one of several films that touch on the unravelling of contemporary Italy in the official selection at the Cannes film festival this year.
    Bathed in the beautiful Roman light of yellows and golds, "La Grande Bellezza" is a lush, sweeping film that both critiques the emptiness of life and revels in it.
    We first meet protagonist Jep Gambardella, played by Toni Servillo, at a late-night bash that makes the famed "bunga bunga" parties of Silvio Berlusconi look tame.
    Jep is living the high life on the laurels of a famous novel he wrote 40 years ago, and now at 65 is stuck in a rut.
    As he reflects on the possibility of writing again, he questions his hedonistic life and his rich, vapid friends, whom he entertains at raucous parties at his apartment overlooking Rome's Colosseum.
    "It's not a criticism of the high life, it's rather a representation of a world which makes me feel indulgent and also makes me feel a sense of tenderness," Sorrentino told Reuters.
    With its thousands of years of civilization on show at every turn, Rome is a character in "The Great Beauty" and Sorrentino's camera guides us like a privileged guest through locked palaces, interior courtyards and private terraces.
    However, Sorrentino said he was not inspired by the city.
    "I don't believe in inspiration. I believe in applying hard work every day so contrary to Jep, I work a lot -- I don't waste my time," he said.
    The cast and crew of "La Grande Bellezza" headed up the red carpet on Wednesday accompanied by stars including Kylie Minogue and director Leos Carax.
    Sorrentino's "Il Divo" ("The Divine") based on Italy's ex- Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, won Cannes' 2008 Jury Prize.
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