‘La grazia‘, the title of Paolo Sorrentino‘s latest film, has been translated into English as ‘Grace‘. The two words, even though they come from a common origin, have different primary meanings in the two languages, Italian and English. In-between these meanings, one can find the theme and atmosphere of this film, which returns to two of the main subjects of the Italian director and screenwriter’s filmography: the meanderings of Italian politics at the highest level and old age as the final stage and last chance to recover the meaning of life. This combination seemed to work quite well for me. The script has both atmosphere and tension of ideas, but also humor. The presence of Toni Servillo, the favorite actor in many of Sorrentino‘s previous films, perfectly transposes the filmmaker’s intentions onto the screen, but it seems that, nevertheless, something of the ceremonial tension, of the dominance of style over substance that characterizes the character (and perhaps his political function) is reflected in the film, making us watch it with respect, but not with passion.
The Italian presidential institution is mostly representative and a symbol of national consensus. The president has few executive powers, especially in the last semester of his term. Among them are the signing of laws approved by Parliament and pardons. The hero of the film, Mariano De Santis, was a good president, respected and loved for the fact that he navigated through political intrigues and managed to rid the country of a dangerous politician (probably prime minister). In the last months of his presidency, however, he is confronted with legal and ethical dilemmas (he is also a convinced Catholic): the approval of a permissive law for euthanasia and the pardon of two convicts, very different one from the other, but both linked in different ways to the issue of euthanasia. His assistant is his own daughter, also a lawyer. The two, but especially the man in the twilight of his life, are marked by the recent death of his wife and her mother. The late wife had hidden a secret that obsesses the man at the age of regrets that can no longer be forgiven. Between the pardon of the convicts and the state of grace that would restore his balance he is a man who, in the twilight of his life, seeks to rediscover the desire to live.
Toni Servillo is once again formidable, as Sorrentino knows how to make him and the actor helps the director to build another memorable character who supports the entire film. Anna Ferzetti plays the devoted daughter, who struggles not to fall into the same trap of devotion to justice that had taken over her father’s life. The cinematography is remarkable, alternating between the corridors of the presidential palace that hide secrets and intrigues of power and fragments of the life of Rome that pulsates outside the walls. Several scenes with symbolic meanings (that of the visit of the Portuguese president, the one-way conference with the lone astronaut) constitute memorable episodes of the film, even if they are not perfectly integrated into the story. ‘La grazia‘ is a melancholic film about a lonely man who is confronted with the limits of power, but especially with his demons and the burden of unfulfilled and unshakable memories. A few lengths could have been avoided, perhaps, but the ensemble is convincing and moving enough.