Parthenope, written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino (The Hand of God, “The New Pope” TV mini-series) has made a visual work of art with his cinematographer, Daria D’Antonio (The Hand of God, The Great Beauty). Every scene of the film, especially with the lead character, Parthenope (Celeste Dalla Porta) alone or with others, but she is not exclusively the reason for the visual bliss with so many scenes of the city by the sea. The film is worth the price of admission at a matinee, if a film fan does not mind that the script may cause a bit of confusion following the main character. I do like the film overall, but it has some scenes that may cause some audience members to clutch the pearls, find objectionable, or outright distasteful. After all, the story of this Italian beauty living her life to the fullest and with many, many adventures that she experiences, anyone who wants to view the film should know the adventures are vast and diverse.
Synopsis: Parthenope, born in the sea of Naples in 1950, searches for happiness over the long summers of her youth, falling in love with her home city and its many memorable characters. From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino comes a monumental and deeply romantic story of a lifetime.
From the beginning as the audience meets Parthenope at 18 years of age, it is quite evident that she is not an individual that plans to live the life of a woman tied to the kitchen, raising babies and restricted by a husband (or any other individual for that matter). She wants to be free to have various experiences in life beyond what was available in the decades of the late 60s, 70s and whenever.
She thinks quickly about each opportunity as it becomes available and acts or decides not to. What I found hilarious even if not intended, was how so many men would say, “What is she thinking?” as many characters appear baffled when she is quiet. To me, those individuals often appear to lack intelligence.
Parthenope admires intelligence and in a chance meeting, she meets one character who she admires, a middle-aged American writer, John Cheever (Gary Oldman), while he is in Italy. I enjoyed Oldman’s portrayal of Cheever as a lonely alcoholic individual, and expressing his attraction to men. Of course, she realizes he is not into her beauty as others had expressed. Cheever excuses himself with a memorable one liner.
Parthenope’s brother, Raimondo (Daniele Rienzo) adores his younger sister and at times is described as “fragile.” He relishes spending time with her and their friend, Sandrino (Dario Atia). Raimondo is aware of her affection for both him of them, and the audience may be left with unresolved questions.
As she is maturing the following decades, Parthenope considers becoming an actress and is introduced to two older women in the industry, (played by Isabella Ferrari and Luisa Ranieri). They do not encourage her to do so. When she is attending classes, she discovers an interest in anthropology, more specifically, an elder anthropology professor (Silvio Orlando) who becomes a mentor. He does assign her to research a specific topic, but with plenty of warning about the subject she would meet- a priest (Peppe Lanzetta). This actor provides an excellent portrayal of moral corruption.
The film also features the following cast – Stefania Sandrelli, Silvia Degrandi, Lorenzo Gleijeses, Marlon Joubert, Alfonso Santagata, Biagio Izzo among others.
Rated R for strong sexual content/graphic nudity, and language. Runtime 2 hours 17 minutes
PARTHENOPE In Austin theaters on February 21
Source: A24
###