Review of The Great Beauty (2013) by Harry W — 14 Apr 2014

As it was the film awarded the 2013 Academy Award for Best Animated feature, The Great Beauty was a film that I simply had to see.

The Great Beauty wasn't exactly my favourite kind of film, but it was still an entertaining one.

A film like The Great Beauty is an acquired taste, so its negative elements are largely its positive ones as well. Admittedly although I appreciated the film, I found myself torn between what my feelings towards it was though as a whole I certainly favoured it more.

The Great Beauty is a film different from many others because it doesn?t feature much of a direct narrative. It does feature a character which it follows closely over the course of the film and documents his experiences with finding beauty in the world of Italy and as he reflects about his life and his experiences. This is both the most positive asset of the film and most negative and will determine whether or not audiences approve of it. I was a little thrown off by it at times due to its consistently slow pace and lack of story direction, but at the same time found it to have gentle movement and a beautiful sense of mystery to it. The great mystery in The Great Beauty is the question of what The Great Beauty truly is, and director Paolo Sorrentino makes many suggestions with his film until viewers make the realisation that it is life itself that is the titular Great Beauty. It is a complicated journey that the film takes until viewers come to that realisation and many are likely to get thrown off by the pacing and the lack of actual dramatic events and the complicated plot structure which was commonly confusing for me, while others will appreciate its visual style and its overall message. My opinion rests in the middle but I see the film more favourably.

The Great Beauty wouldn't be my first choice for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature against other films such as Blue is the Warmest Colour, but it certainly has appeal. The way I experienced it, I was often confused by the complicated story structure of the film and half the time I couldn't determine whether Jep Gambardella was facing new experiences in his life or reflecting on old ones. The film felt like a series of vignettes more than a film with a direct narrative which sort of got in the way of me attempting to truly experience everything, and its length and pacing threw me off as well since The Great Beauty felt a lot longer than it needed to be and made the journey the whole way to the end a very slow one which occasionally made me fall out of the grip of the sequences.

But at the same time, I appreciated the complexities of what The Great Beauty was saying about Jep Gambardella as he came to terms with past, present and future and considered the loss he had experienced over the course of his 65 year lifespan. It told his story largely through a lot of notable imagery which captured the beautiful Italian scenery and the many artistic sights of it through some exquisite cinematography worthy of an Academy Award nomination for its excellence. The Great Beauty was a great beauty from a visual perspective and was a truly unforgettable visual experience which captured all of its immensely beautiful sights and stars with plenty of colour, so it goes to show the kind of artistic mind Paolo Sorrentino holds. The visual aspects of The Great Beauty manage to largely make up for its lack of comprehensible plot structure and the way the narrative indirectly linked everything, and it makes it quite a sight to behold.

The Great Beauty also benefits from a strong musical score which enhances the artistic mood of everything, as well as the talent of a skilful cast. They all benefit from an insightful screenplay by Paolo Sorrentino and Umberto Cotarello who manage to capture the artistic mood of all the situations and goes in depth with their well-written characters.

The lead performance of Toni Servillo is excellent. For most of the film he is very stoic and he lets his emotions be expressed simply through his facial gestures which he manages to articulate with ease. You can tell the whole time that he is in deep thought reflecting on everything that is happening and attempting to handle it all, and through his simple facial gestures he manages to tell a lot about his character. The deep emotional state of the character is a complex one and yet it is easy to sympathise for him and see into his soul through the simplicity of Toni Servillo's facial gestures and the line delivery of what few words he does in fact speak. His role is an effective one and with a captivating skill he manages to capture the complicated mindset of his character and face everything that comes with age and all that his character Jeb Gambardella has experienced over the course of his 65 year lifespan. There is a lot for audiences to take in from The Great Beauty, but Toni Servillo has already done that for his character and executes it with ease. Toni Servillo is a great lead in The Great Beauty, and he interacts with all the other cast members and the complicated style of the film very well and makes it all seem natural due to his easy skill at delivering the role.

So a lot of people are likely to view The Great Beauty as a love it or hate it experience, while my opinion lingers in the middle although I enjoyed it. While its lack of direct story may throw off viewers and the complicated structure of plot elements may do the same thing, The Great Beauty benefits immensely from the artistic mind of Paolo Sorrentino who makes it into an unforgettable visual experience which reveals the true beautiful nature of Italy.