The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza)

Last night I wanted to watch something different, and what I found was a very different Italian movie that takes place in Rome entitled The Great Beauty. What I saw was an excellent movie that is thought provoking. It explores what it means to get older after having an active and fullfilling life. It stars Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, and Sabrina Ferilli, and was written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino.

The movie follows Jep Gambardella, a central figure in Rome's night life. Jep came to Rome in his twenties, after having written a successful novel. Forty years later Jep is now a journalist for a high-class literary magazine. Jep has friends, who are just as frustrated and unsatisfied with their lives as he is, despite having all their red Ferraris and high-rise condos. Together they keep each other company and form a support group of sorts. The presence of other miserable people convinces them it's okay, that life is still worth living and the facade is still worth maintaining.

After all the years of partying Jep no longer enjoys his life, but has no will to change it either. Soon after his 65th birthday, Jep notes to himself that he no longer has the luxury to do things he doesn't want to do. Instead, he looks up his old friends. From one, Jep learns that his first girlfriend (who left him 40 years ago) and first love has died. From another he strikes up a relationship with this friend's daughter, a 41-year old stripper named Ramona. 

As you can infer this is a very different and complex movie. I highly recommend this beautifully prouced, thought-provoking movie.