Review of The Great Beauty (2013) by Bathsheba M — 28 Jan 2014

After I recovered from initial "Hey, this is just Fellini in color" I realized that Fellini is Fellini because he's Italian, as is Sorrentino and there is just no escaping the beauty that is Rome.

That said, this is a profound look at what early success means in the arts, especially the literary arts: can you ever top it? Can you ever see the world fresh, or is it always through the glasses of the previous work that made you? Or, as the character himself says, "I was waiting for the great beauty" and in the meantime I decided to have a party, I guess.

I especially liked the mysterious man upstairs who (spoiler alert) turns out to be a high class crook,but who cried out as he is being taken away, "I work hard so bums like you can just party" or something like that.

It's an interesting take on how the money manipulation crowd sees artists. Only nit-pick: I could have used a smaller dose of the nun/saint. I want to see it again.