The Great Beauty

“Travel is very useful, it makes the imagination work, the rest is just delusion and pain. Our journey is entirely imaginary, which is its strength.”

I am completely overwhelmed by the beauty of this film. Without any doubt La Grande Bellezza is one of the most magnificent films of 2013.

We follow Jep Gambardella, a wealthy writer that is part of the high society. In his daily life he goes to a lot of parties and important events. His friends are just like him, bohemians always looking for what they call happiness, which is good parties, drinks, drugs, casual sex but despite all of that they are frustrated and are all trapped pretending to be satisfied with their miserable lives. That's how Jep feels about himself. At the age of 65, Jep doesn't have a family and no one that truly cares about him. Pain is always present while he fakes to live an amazing life. But there is much more about this film than my simple description about Jep's life. There is such an emotional power in this story that you will be completely absorb inside of it!

Toni Servillo's performance is superb, so deep and melancholic! He can make you look into this charming and important man with such vulnerability while he brings to you the most deepest emotions.

The cinematography is absolutely beautiful, every single shot is so elegant and so gorgeous and is always followed by a fantastic soundtrack that suits perfectly every moment that we are appreciating.

This film is one of the greatest modern masterpieces of cinema. La Grande Bellezza surely is a true work of art.

This movie is remarkable in many, many ways. It's both so easy yet so difficult to understand it. I've never seen any movie like it. You have to see the movie until the very end to understand it.

The first time I saw the movie, I saw it in 4 parts. The reason I did that is because it was very hard for me to keep watching it. I kept on waiting for the story to start, but then it hit me when I was in the middle of the movie: it's already started, because there is no story. It's a movie without a story, because it tells the great beauty. And until the very end, I disliked the movie. But seeing the ending, I realized what the movie truly was about. I've never seen any movie like it, because it's hard to get that a movie doesn't contain a story. That it's about nothing. And everything.

Watching the movie a second time, I loved it way more then the first time. I knew what it was about, I knew there was no story, I knew what was going to happen. And yet, the very ending surprised me all over again. Still, I kind of disliked the whole movie, yet loved and loved and loved the ending. It's weird how after that, I still think this is a one in a billion kind of movie. This truly is a story about _la grande bellezza_ and it's a remarkable one.

Despite my very strange yet strong feelings towards this movie, it consists of great acting, powerful music and a wonderful ending scene and ending sequence.

I was reluctant to see this movie because on paper it looks like an arthouse chore. Luckily it isn't at all.
We follow the cynic and self-proclaimed "it-man" of the high-class nightlife in Rome; Jep, through his episodic encounters in the city. Because of the death of his one true love (who married someone else) he starts to reflect on his life and what the Great Beauty in it is (or was).
The movie showcases beautiful cinematography, editing and score and has a diverse set of actors. There is also plenty of often subtle humor to be found in the scenes and dialogue making it everything but dry.

Wow - i'm late to the party but after watching This Must be the Place and the sublime Youth..The Great Beauty moved to the top of my must see movie list, after all i have had the bluray in my collection since 2014. As with Youth i needed to set the mood and wait for a quiet morning without my wife and kids to fully involve myself in its beauty without distraction, and i am so glad i waited. Not only was it beautiful (it looked wonderful on a 55" 4K TV via a UHD upscaled player) it made me realise that roots are important and i eagerly awaited the return of my family.

Paolo Sorrentino i salute you....and remember people "its all a trick"

Mueve la colita mamita rica, mueve la colita (8) Hermosa, sublime.

A high-flying Roman socialite begins to tire of his lifestyle as he turns 65.

Toni Servillo plays Jep, the dapper writer at the centre of the plot. He’s self-involved but self-aware, and so at home in Rome he never leaves. His life seems to bridge the gap between high culture and the grotesque; artists mingle with strippers, criminals mix with nuns. He lives with the burden of a successful early novel, and the unwillingness or inability to write another.

Sorrentino places him in various scenarios that loosely hang together but The Great Beauty focuses more on aesthetic than narrative. The camera moves slowly through the city, the parties and the scenery. There’s dialogue but it’s used sparingly, an appropriate choice for a film looking to explore the various facets of beauty.

The soundtrack is inspired, it’s almost another character in the film. In fact, Sorrentino’s work on all fronts is masterful; this is easily one of the most beautiful, thoughtfully made films of the last ten years. A true feast for the eyes.

However, it’s a less compelling film in terms of structure. This is, unsurprisingly, a somewhat pretentious film. Perhaps a second viewing would reveal more but the first time round it quickly becomes off-putting. It’s heavy going at times, not always a bad thing, but Sorrentino needs to at least make some effort to draw us in. He is frequently compared to Fellini but Fellini’s films do more work to hold the audience captive.

Instead we are left entirely to our own devices, making the film a taxing experience. Depending on who’s watching, this can be a complete turn off or a minor gripe but either way it’s difficult to ignore.

That said, the gorgeous aesthetics and sound make The Great Beauty a thoroughly worthwhile experience. At worst it’s one of the best looking films you’ll see, at best it could be a profoundly moving experience. For this writer, Sorrentino’s efforts land somewhere in between.

http://benoliver999.com/film/2015/10/16/thegreatbeauty/

Man will rather will nothingness than not will; or will beauty, even.

This movie was not good!