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This fea\u00adture is the sec\u00adond in our sum\u00admer series, <\/strong><\/i>La Dolce Vita: A\u00a0Cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion of Ital\u00adian Screen Style<\/strong><\/i><\/a>, in part\u00adner\u00adship with Disaronno.<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n N<\/span>ot once dur\u00ading Pao\u00adlo Sorrentino\u2019s sprawl\u00ading urban sym\u00adpho\u00adny, <\/span>The Great Beau\u00adty<\/span><\/i>, does Jep Gam\u00adbardel\u00adla (Toni Servil\u00adlo) ever hop in a\u00a0car. Walk\u00ading is the man\u2019s only means of trav\u00adel \u2013 an occu\u00adpa\u00adtion and a\u00a0spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal imper\u00ada\u00adtive. Bedecked with an end\u00adless col\u00adlec\u00adtion of blaz\u00aders, pock\u00adet squares and two-toned brogues, the 65<\/span>-year-old one-time nov\u00adel\u00adist-turned-occa\u00adsion\u00adal reporter saun\u00adters into the film as a\u00a0<\/span>fl\u00e2neur<\/i>, strolling aim\u00adless\u00adly around Rome in a\u00a0state of height\u00adened recep\u00adtiv\u00adi\u00adty to all the stim\u00aduli of its streets.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>The world reveals itself to those who trav\u00adel on foot,\u201d Wern\u00ader Her\u00adzog once mused, and so it is for Servillo\u2019s pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal wan\u00adder\u00ader, who doesn\u2019t seem to live in so much as com\u00admune with the city. No walk is ever wast\u00aded, every cor\u00adner hides some\u00adthing strange: a\u00a0nun pick\u00ading oranges from a\u00a0tree; a\u00a0child whis\u00adper\u00ading from inside the crypt of a\u00a0Renais\u00adsance tem\u00adple; a\u00a0giraffe in the Baths of Caracalla.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Sor\u00adrenti\u00adno trades a\u00a0tourist-friend\u00adly trav\u00adel\u00adogue for a\u00a0more dis\u00adqui\u00adet\u00ading, entranc\u00ading jour\u00adney, and that\u2019s his pri\u00adma\u00adry achieve\u00adment. <\/span>The Great Beau\u00adty <\/span><\/i>makes a\u00a0famil\u00adiar place seem new and sur\u00adre\u00adal; it\u2019s that rare film that\u2019s sus\u00adcep\u00adti\u00adble to the mag\u00adic of things that often go unnoticed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Like Fed\u00aderi\u00adco Felli\u00adni, whose 1960<\/span> film La Dolce Vita stands as The Great Beauty\u2019s undis\u00adput\u00aded touch\u00adstone, Sor\u00adrenti\u00adno was not born in the Ital\u00adian cap\u00adi\u00adtal but moved there in his youth, and he immor\u00adtalis\u00ades it with the look of an out\u00adsider stunned by all its rich\u00ades and mys\u00adter\u00adies. This is his fifth fea\u00adture lensed by Luca Bigazzi, who here traf\u00adfics in the same ele\u00adgant crane and dol\u00adly shots that marked their ear\u00adli\u00ader collaborations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But where the sin\u00adu\u00adous cam\u00adera move\u00adment in 2008<\/span>\u2019s <\/span>Il Divo<\/span><\/i> and 2011<\/span>\u2019s <\/span>This Must Be the Place<\/span><\/i> might some\u00adtimes reg\u00adis\u00adter as osten\u00adta\u00adtious, in <\/span>The Great Beau\u00adty<\/span><\/i> form is entire\u00adly in ser\u00advice of the sto\u00adry. As the cam\u00adera glides in and out of church\u00ades, palaz\u00adzos and rooftops, Sor\u00adrenti\u00adno con\u00adjures a\u00a0mag\u00adpie curios\u00adi\u00adty for the world that dove\u00adtails with Jep\u2019s own jour\u00adney: a\u00a0man who grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly awakes to the splen\u00addour that sur\u00adrounds him, and turns it into a\u00a0source of creation.<\/span><\/p>\n Still, Sorrentino\u2019s love for Rome is not rev\u00ader\u00aden\u00adtial. Through\u00adout the film there are moments \u2013 a\u00a0man wash\u00ading his face on the mon\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtal foun\u00adtain on the Jan\u00adicu\u00adlum hill, a\u00a0woman read\u00ading a\u00a0news\u00adpa\u00adper hud\u00addled next to a\u00a0stat\u00adue \u2013 that seemed designed to demys\u00adti\u00adfy its cen\u00adturies-old archi\u00adtec\u00adture. Enthralled by the city as he unmis\u00adtak\u00adably is, Sor\u00adrenti\u00adno cap\u00adtures it not as an inert back\u00addrop, but a\u00a0place that exists in sym\u00adbio\u00adsis with its residents.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For a\u00a0work haunt\u00aded by death \u2013 one that opens with a\u00a0fatal case of Stend\u00adhal Syn\u00addrome \u2013<\/span> The Great Beau\u00adty <\/span><\/i>accrues a\u00a0life-affirm\u00ading pow\u00ader. If there\u2019s any\u00adthing tru\u00adly deca\u00addent in Sorrentino\u2019s uni\u00adverse that\u2019s not Rome and its weath\u00adered mon\u00adu\u00adments, but the fatu\u00adous, navel-gaz\u00ading aris\u00adto\u00adcrats Jep frit\u00adters time with. It stands to rea\u00adson that his wardrobe \u2013 replete with the fedo\u00adras and bright\u00adly coloured jack\u00adets of a\u00a0mid-cen\u00adtu\u00adry dandy \u2013 should set him apart from the more som\u00adbre out\u00adfits of those around him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Like every\u00adthing else in this spell-bind\u00ading film, Daniela Ciancio\u2019s cos\u00adtumes aren\u2019t beau\u00adti\u00adful for beauty\u2019s sake, but sug\u00adgests a\u00a0vital\u00adi\u00adty that befits the sto\u00adry of a\u00a0rebirth. Their old-fash\u00adioned charm is in keep\u00ading with Sorrentino\u2019s grand design.<\/span> The Great Beau\u00adty<\/span><\/i> isn\u2019t a\u00a0mere ele\u00adgy for lost time; it\u2019s a\u00a0trib\u00adute to an ancient, more open way of trav\u00adel\u00adling through and look\u00ading at the\u00a0world.<\/span><\/p>\n To find out more about Disaronno\u2019s 500<\/span>-year anniver\u00adsary* cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtions, vis\u00adit\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/i>dis\u200baron\u200bno\u200b.com<\/strong><\/span><\/i><\/a>, and <\/strong><\/i>join us at Regent Street Cin\u00ade\u00adma on July 4<\/span>\u00a0and 5<\/span><\/strong><\/i><\/a> for spe\u00adcial free screen\u00adings of The Great Beau\u00adty and La Notte, with com\u00adpli\u00admen\u00adta\u00adry cock\u00adtails from Disaronno.<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n *<\/span>1525<\/span>: The leg\u00adend of Dis\u00adaron\u00adno begins.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nGet more Lit\u00adtle White\u00a0Lies<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n