The Great Beauty
| The Great Beauty | |
|---|---|
Italian theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Paolo Sorrentino |
| Produced by | Nicola Giuliano Francesca Cima Fabio Conversi |
| Screenplay by | Paolo Sorrentino Umberto Contarello |
| Story by | Paolo Sorrentino |
| Starring |
Toni Servillo Carlo Verdone Sabrina Ferilli Carlo Buccirosso |
| Music by | Lele Marchitelli |
| Cinematography | Luca Bigazzi |
| Edited by | Cristiano Travaglioli |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | Medusa Film |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
142 minutes |
| Country | Italy France |
| Language | Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese |
| Budget | €9,200,000 |
| Box office | $24,164,400 |
The Great Beauty (Italian: La grande bellezza [la ˈɡrande belˈlettsa]) is a 2013 Italian art drama film co-written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino. Filming took place in Rome starting on 9 August 2012. It premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where it was screened in competition for the Palme d'Or. It was shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and at the 2013 Reykjavik European Film Festival.
The film won Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, as well as the Golden Globe and the BAFTA award in the same category. It is a co-production between the Italian Medusa Film and Indigo Film and the French Babe Films, with support from Banca Popolare di Vicenza, Pathé and France 2 Cinéma. With a production budget of €9.2 million, the film has so far grossed over $24 million worldwide.
The film opens with a quote from Céline's Journey to the End of the Night: "To 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." The main character is an aging socialite, Jep Gambardella, who once wrote a famous novel in his twenties, only to retire into a comfortable life writing cultural columns and throwing parties in Rome. After his 65th birthday party, he walks through the ruins and city streets, encountering the various characters, reflecting on his life, his first love, and sense of unfulfillment.
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 91% approval rating, based on 113 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 7.8/10. The critical consensus states, "Dazzlingly ambitious, beautifully filmed, and thoroughly enthralling, The Great Beauty offers virtuoso filmmaking from writer/director Paolo Sorrentino." The film holds a score of 86/100 on Metacritic based on 34 reviews, signifying "universal acclaim."
...
Wikipedia