Review of The Great Beauty (2013) by Edward K — 12 Jan 2014

Sardonic humor intermixed with an undertow of sadness. Existential anxiety drowned in frenetic partying within world's greatest mausoleum, Rome. Many of the interior scenes within the great Roman halls left me with a sense of Alain Resnais' film Last Year at Marienbad; yet the feeling of mysteriousness present in Resnais' film was absent here because Jeb, the film's main character, has come to recognize that for the most part life is an illusion.

The soundtrack successfully creates the mood which is what this film is about because there is no real story, just feelings of regret and loss. Unfortunately dependence on the subtitles greatly detracts from the enjoyment of watching such a film on the grand scale.