Sumptuous and self-indulgent, Sorrentino's latest is a Fellini-like feast for the eyes.
The Great Beauty(La grande bellezza)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Italy, France · 2013
2h 22m
Director Paolo Sorrentino
Starring Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Buccirosso
Genre Drama
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Jep has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, he looks beyond the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Paolo Sorrentino's film is really just a huge turn-on that has the bad manners to go sour, succumbing to its own self-delusions of moral/political grandeur.
Time Out London by Dave Calhoun
It’s an exploration of all things surface, yes, but it has soul too.
The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young
Though Sorrentino’s vision of moral chaos and disorder, spiritual and emotional emptiness at this moment in time is even darker than Fellini’s...he describes it all in a pleasingly creative way that pulls audiences in through humor and excess.
Sorrentino continues to tackle major topics using an extraordinary combination of broad brushstrokes and minute detail. Passion via the intellect has become his trademark, well suited to this dissection of empty diversions, indulged in by latter-day Neros fiddling while Rome burns.
Gambardella’s world-weary look back at his sweet life, eclipsed by his turning sixty-five, is a dizzying fantasia of flash and filigree, and what it lacks in direct narrative is well patched-over with frenetic and emotion-rich sequences. This movie is a sight and sound workout.
The Playlist by Kevin Jagernauth
La Grande Bellezza washes over you in series of scenes, visages, sensations and impressions, and although in this case it doesn't quite gel into a cohesive whole, it's nonetheless a journey worth taking; a travelogue through memory and dreams, in which life is greatest fiction we could ever create.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
This movie looks and feels superb, it is pure couture cinema. But there is also a excess of richness and bombast and for all its sleekness I felt that the spark of emotion was being hidden, and there is a kind of frustration in the operatic sadness.
The Telegraph by Robbie Collin
A shimmering coup de cinema to make your heart burst, your mind swim and your soul roar.
Users who liked this film also liked
The Last Metro
(Le Dernier Métro)
A story of love and conflict in Nazi-occupied Paris.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1980
- Director François Truffaut
- Cast Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Jean Poiret, Andréa Ferréol, Paulette Dubost, Jean-Louis Richard
- Genre Drama, Romance, War
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Il Divo
Postwar Italy elects Prime Minister Guilio Andreotti to seven terms, but in 1992 he is put on trial for colluding with the Mafia.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 2008
- Director Paolo Sorrentino
- Cast Toni Servillo, Anna Bonaiuto, Giulio Bosetti, Flavio Bucci, Carlo Buccirosso, Giorgio Colangeli
- Genre Drama
- Available on Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Hoopla
Gomorrah
(Gomorra)
Under the rule of the Camorra, residents of Naples and Caserta think only of power, money, and blood.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2008
- Director Matteo Garrone
- Cast Toni Servillo, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale, Salvatore Cantalupo, Gigio Morra, Marco Macor
- Genre Drama, Crime
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Manual of Love 2
(Manuale d'amore 2 (capitoli successivi))
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2007
- Director Giovanni Veronesi
- Cast Carlo Verdone, Monica Bellucci, Riccardo Scamarcio, Fabio Volo, Sergio Rubini, Antonio Albanese
- Genre Romance, Comedy, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Grande, grosso e Verdone
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2008
- Director Carlo Verdone
- Cast Carlo Verdone, Claudia Gerini, Geppi Cucciari, Eva Riccobono, Vittorio Emanuele Propizio, Andrea Miglio Risi
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Consequences of Love
(Le conseguenze dell'amore)
Everyone has a dark secret
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2004
- Director Paolo Sorrentino
- Cast Toni Servillo, Olivia Magnani, Adriano Giannini, Antonio Ballerio, Gianna Paola Scaffidi, Nino D'Agata
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Bianco, rosso e Verdone
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1981
- Director Carlo Verdone
- Cast Carlo Verdone, Irina Sanpiter, Elena Fabrizi, Angelo Infanti, Milena Vukotić, Mario Brega
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Family Friend
(L'amico di famiglia)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 2006
- Director Paolo Sorrentino
- Cast Giacomo Rizzo, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Laura Chiatti, Gigi Angelillo, Clara Bindi, Barbara Valmorin
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
This Must Be the Place
A retired rock star sets out to find his father's executioner, an ex-Nazi war criminal, who is a refugee in the U.S.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France, Ireland • 2011
- Director Paolo Sorrentino
- Cast Sean Penn, Olwen Fouéré, Eve Hewson, Johnny Ward, Sam Keeley, Danielle O'Brien
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, AMC on Demand, VUDU Free, Freevee, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Café de Flore
Healing a broken heart isn't easy. Sometimes it takes a lifetime...or two.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada, France • 2011
- Director Jean-Marc Vallée
- Cast Vanessa Paradis, Kevin Parent, Hélène Florent, Evelyne Brochu, Marin Gerrier, Alice Dubois
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Kino Film Collection, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Kanopy
Twice Born
(Venuto al mondo)
A story of love. A story of war. A story of life.
- ✭ ✭
- Italy, Spain • 2012
- Director Sergio Castellitto
- Cast Penélope Cruz, Emile Hirsch, Adnan Hasković, Saadet Işıl Aksoy, Pietro Castellitto, Mira Furlan
- Genre Drama, Romance, War
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV
The Best Offer
(La migliore offerta)
A Master of Possession. A Crime of Obsession
- ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2013
- Director Giuseppe Tornatore
- Cast Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sturgess, Sylvia Hoeks, Donald Sutherland, Maximilian Dirr, Philip Jackson
- Genre Drama, Romance, Crime
- Available on AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, IFC Films Unlimited Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Kanopy
Long Live Freedom
(Viva la libertà)
- ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2013
- Director Roberto Andò
- Cast Toni Servillo, Valerio Mastandrea, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Michela Cescon, Anna Bonaiuto, Eric Trung Nguyen
- Genre Drama
- Available on OVID, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Kanopy, Hoopla
Youth
Two old friends spend the holiday together in the Swiss Alps and reminisce on their lives.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France, United Kingdom • 2015
- Director Paolo Sorrentino
- Cast Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano, Jane Fonda, Mark Kozelek
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand
They Call Me Jeeg
(Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot)
A superhero like no other
- Italy • 2015
- Director Gabriele Mainetti
- Cast Claudio Santamaria, Ilenia Pastorelli, Luca Marinelli, Stefano Ambrogi, Maurizio Tesei, Francesco Formichetti
- Genre Action, Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Science Fiction
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, Freevee, Kanopy, Hoopla
Loro
A hybrid period movie and fiction story following the life of infamous media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 2018
- Director Paolo Sorrentino
- Cast Toni Servillo, Elena Sofia Ricci, Riccardo Scamarcio, Kasia Smutniak, Ricky Memphis, Euridice Axén
- Genre Drama
- Available on AMC+ Amazon Channel, IFC Films Unlimited Apple TV Channel, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Kanopy
Couple Therapy for Cheaters
(Terapia di coppia per amanti)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2017
- Director Alessio Maria Federici
- Cast Ambra Angiolini, Pietro Sermonti, Sergio Rubini, Franco Branciaroli, Anna Ferzetti, Anita Kravos
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Great Battle
(안시성)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2018
- Director Kim Kwang-sik
- Cast Jo In-sung, Nam Joo-hyuk, Park Sung-woong, Bae Sung-woo, Um Tae-goo, Kim Seol-hyun
- Genre War, History, Action
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, Kocowa, Hi-YAH, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Rakuten Viki, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Freevee, Kanopy
The Hand of God
(È stata la mano di Dio)
Based in part on the life of director Paolo Sorrentino, this film tells the story of a fateful encounter with soccer superstar Diego Maradona.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2021
- Director Paolo Sorrentino
- Cast Filippo Scotti, Toni Servillo, Teresa Saponangelo, Luisa Ranieri, Marlon Joubert, Massimiliano Gallo
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
Rarely, I feel, does a film capture the dizzying highs and emotional devastations of being alive as succinctly as “La Grande Bellezza.” Not only does the film live up to its name by being visually stunning — every bit of it is shot with such intelligence and style that I was reminded of a number of Fellini’s most beautiful works — but I frequently found myself bowled over by its metaphors and emotional weight. Even the most seemingly inconsequential of moments are made incandescent thanks to Sorrentino’s determination to infuse every minute with the full spectrum of feelings that come with being alive. Joy, grief, agony, delight, and bittersweet reverence hold hands and dance through Jeb’s longing stares out at Rome’s canals, or through the glittering party scenes, or across the late-night conversations that Jeb has with his friends.