A nagy szépség

The spirit of Federico Fellini is alive and weird in The Great Beauty, the Oscar-winning ode to Rome from writer-director Paolo Sorrentino.

Sorrentino focuses on the marvellous Toni Servillo, his frequent star, as Jep Gambardella, a dandyish writer still living La Dolce Vita based on early, still-unrealized success. When we meet him, at a spectacularly staged party thrown for his 65th birthday, there’s plenty of female flesh on display. But Jep himself is a bit too jaded to care very much anymore.

The bellezza of the title may be the ineffable, if highly pungent, presence of Rome itself. His super modern apartment has a massive balcony overlooking the Coliseum, and many of the film’s 142 minutes are spent among the ruins—real, moral, and spiritual Italy.

Some of this romantic background might be more mysterious than it needs to be. Our weary antihero’s mild infatuation with a surgically altered stripper (Sabrina Ferilli) delivers a subplot that doesn’t add much to the overall story—long to begin with—and says little about his other relationships.

In the end, though, the movie is unforgettably verdant and a modern classic. Supported by many gorgeous bits of mostly classical music, it is an inward-seeking carnival packed with miraculous moments.