Review of The Great Beauty (2013) by Ed T — 10 Feb 2014

A choir sing in a italian square while a bunch of Japanese tourist listen an italian tourist guy, one of the tourist split from the group to snap some panoramic pictures of the city, suddenly he is dead... The life start in the afternoon for everyone.

The Great Beauty start with a wild party on the rooftop of luxury apartment in Rome. You can identify the main character of this story, the selfish people with un reciprocated love, the heavy drinker with nothing left to live, midgets, dominatrix and horny fellows. The last person to reveal is the singular guy smoking and seems to having a blast on this party, this I Jep.

Jep is a writer, Jep is a playboy, Jep is the happiest guy in Italy. The Great Beauty tells the story of Jep Gambardella a well known writer with a single successful book, lives "La Dolce Vita" in this wonderful and amazing apartment with a terrace to the Coliseum, he lives the live to the fullest, with crazy parties with friends who share a common interest in writing and theater. But there empty, from the inside.

Jep search for love, real one, he spent hours by looking at the ceiling picturing the ocean, the sea that saw him grew and saw him been in love and passionated about things, but specially Elissa his lost love.

That's What triggers Jep emotions. He relived the first kiss, his first sexual encounter and how his life is been dedicated to enjoy the superficial pleasures of life, the drugs, the lust, the alcohol and the luxury.

The Great Beauty is surreal, is fantastic, is a pure joy a real movie buzz, he honored the great Federico Fellini with his iconic images, the religious symbols, but most importune how caricature characters travel from one extreme to the other, camouflaging their emotions using fancy clothes, fancy cars, erotic dance moves and elegant dinner parties with bishops and cardinals.

The film travels to the underground lives of instant botox, the Costa Concordia, unusual gifted kids painters who drain their hate, but mostly The Great Beauty is about a man who wanders the city and his life.