Lately, when Pray, Mariano de Santis falls asleep. And he never dreams. Impossible for such a man to grant fantasize. Jurist, author of a famous private manual of 2,046 pages, now president of the Italian Republic: pure concretion. Not for anything they nickname Reinforced concrete (Reinforced concrete). The weeks spend, the end of their mandate is approaching, just like the sunset. But he doesn’t even flinch. He refuses to decide. Actually, hardly lives. “I am the most boring argument I know,” he says in the movie. He just removed returning to the first time he saw his beloved Aurora, who died eight years ago. Remember to walk, he says that his feet rose from the ground. Blessed lightness: Every day it seems to fade a little more. For the protagonist of Gracewhich has opened on Wednesday the Venice Film Festival. But also on the other side of the screen, in the seats. At least, for two hours, the spectators laughed, cried and reflected. They forgot the nightmares, maybe they even felt a little milder. Blessed cinema.
A huge mystery surrounded it had only been announced that Toni Servillo would interpret it, in his seventh collaboration with Sorrentino. And that would have to see “with love.” TRUE. Now it is also known that there is much more. He talks about duel, obsession, uncertainty and forgiveness; of euthanasia and macho violence; to try, advance or stagnate; of sensitivity, the same that permeates the whole length. “Who are our days?” The daughter asks the president. And, incidentally, to the public. The film amazes because it leaves puso, stays to the skin of leather, but some laugh is also released. The sublime and the ridiculous, the fascinating brand alliance of the house. “I don’t believe it,” said a projection assistant to the press at the peculiar portrait of the Pope in the film. He repeated it on another pair of occasions. The first round of applause took only 10 minutes to listen. In the end there was a second, longer.
A third, even greater, was heard in the press room. “The film is born from an event: I read that Sergio Mattarella [actual presidente de la República italiana] He granted grace to a man who killed his wife, sick of Alzheimer’s. For years I have thought that the moral dilemma is a formidable narrative engine, ”said Sorrentino. From there, he filled the entire film of grace, far beyond his concrete sense. And he placed on the screen a politic News: Sorrentino and Servillo did not reveal who they were inspired for the character and the filmmaker wants his film to return the attention to euthanasia, object of the nth design of the law that languishes without reaching the finish line in the Italian Parliament.
Sorrentino was asked about Mubi, one of the film’s distributors, questioned for accepting investments of a company that also allocates money to a start-up Israeli specialized in defense technologies. The director bounced the issue to a company representative in the Sala, who refused to answer. When, a couple of hours before, the press wanted to know the opinion about Palestine of the filmmaker Alexander Payne, president of the jury of the competition, did not enter the rag: the witness passed to the director of the festival, Alberto Barbera. It is clear that the matter will return. Because . Hence, the V4P movement (Venice for Palestine), promoted by about 1,500 names of Italian and international cinema – as Marco Bellocchio, Matteo Garrone, Alice Rohrwacher, Ken Loach or Céline Sciamma -, asked the contest to condemn Israel more clearly and not invite Gal Gadot and Gerard Butler ,. “The Venice Biennale [que organiza el festival] It is the most important cultural institution in Italy, an open space for dialogue. Making political statements is not a work that corresponds to us. We welcome everyone, we have never censored an artist or we will do it now. No one can doubt our attitude, or believe that we are not sensitive to what happens, ”
Today, Wednesday, the artistic director cited the speeches of the pre -opening ceremony, yesterday, as “the tomb of this child will be a monument to shame,” said Pietrangelo ButtaFuoco, president of the Biennial, citing Euripides. And Nandino Capovila, priest expelled from Israel on August 2, spoke of “genocide plan.” The religious recalled the famine officially declared in Gaza, requested justice by the victims – both the 62,000 Palestinians such as the 1,205 Israeli – and added: “This escalation Bankrupt any principle of humanity, proportionality and distinction. ”The oldest festival in the world has seen wars, revolutions, a pandemic. Its 82nd edition wants to be that of the amazing flood of stars. But it is,. On Saturday, the Lido, the island where the show is celebrated, will host a protest in favor of Palestine Palazzo del Cinema with flags and banners against “Genocide.”
Namely how Venice will live a parade so different from those who usually witness. The festival knows more about red carpets; of consecrating myths, such as Werner Herzog, which today collects the Golden Lion of Honor at the opening gala; or to discover what one day will be. Right here, in 2001, Sorrentino began his career, with the celebrated and restrained The most man. From there, he drew a very personal trajectory: self -taught, always faithful to himself, unique, sometimes even too much. A visionary who, paradoxically, dazzles when he puts on his imagination. There they are The consequences of love o The Divo To prove it. The delicacy with which she recreated on the award -winning screen four years ago in the Mostra, is a master class of film. If so much talent can be taught, or learn.
“Each film requires a style. And we realized that it should be more sober. It has also happened now,” said the director. However, Silvio and the otherssome chapters of the series The young Pope There is another sorrentino: the one who becomes baroque and, finally, empty. Your masterpiece, The great beautystands out as a great exception: a visual and narrative prodigy.
Gracelike its protagonist, it is contained. Nor of the immobility suffered by the young protagonist. A priorifew characters as blocked as the President concrete. And yet, his paralysis has a lot to tell, also thanks to a great script. Sorrentino is usually defined, first of all, as “a writer.” He has published novels, his films always leave his own pen. And in this case I was especially inspired: quality, intelligence, irony and depth. It is also known as a teacher in the use of music: confirmed is left. Now it tracks possible sound bands even on Instagram, as revealed in the press conference. The only one who disagrees turned out to be Toni Servillo, with a smile: “We’ve never fought. We only divide music.” The filmmaker is omnivore. The actor, apparently, prefers the classic.
I may Grace Just deserve a justified criticism: some more cutting cut, so as not to exceed two hours. Also because the film himself underlines the relevance of the passage of time. Little ones, in any case. Because, when leaving the room, pleasure, thoughts and questions were left. After all, as they say in the film, grace is “the beauty of doubt.” One, at least, is resolved: the Venice Festival has started wonderfully.
