178 - The Great Beauty, 2013, Italy. Dir. Paolo Sorrentino.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

178 - The Great Beauty, 2013, Italy.  Dir. Paolo Sorrentino.

I wanted to be the king of high society.
I didn't just want to go to parties.
I wanted to have the power to make or break them.

So says Jep.

Jep is the Jay Gatsby of early 21st century Rome.

He lives in a posh apartment with a rooftop balcony across the street from the Coliseum.

He wrote a novelette years ago.  He has not written since.  He is not pretentious.  He knows he is not important.  He claims not to be an intellectual.  He simply goes through life and makes the most of it.

And he does take in things and process them.

Jep has just turned 65 years old, and we attend his birthday party.

We then follow him through Rome through nights and days as he meets people and spends time with them.

The film is lovely to watch and to hear.  The production design and cinematography are rich and lush                                                                                                                                                                                                               .

The director is sure-handed and takes his time, crafting memorable images.

Every frame a page from a National Geographic coffee table book.


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Travel is useful.  It exercises the imagination.  All the rest is disappointment and fatigue.Our journey is entirely imaginary.  That is its strength.
It goes from life to death.  People, animals, cities, things--all are imagined.
It's a novel, just a fictitious narrative.  Littre says so, and he's never wrong.
Besides, anyone can do it.  You just have to close your eyes.
It's on the other side of life.
Celine - Journey to the End of the Night