Where does great art come from? As ordinary people living an ordinary life, we come across certain creative works that strike a powerful chord with our inner self, a place where we always want to get to but is constantly strangled by the miseries of life from any action of pursuance. For the past two weeks, I have come across three works, two movies and a book which deals with life and death, I don’t know if this is an unforeseen consequence of locking up myself in a room to learn something I despise. I have been granted the luxury of experiencing life through the eyes of great writers and filmmakers. The movie I am about to write about is one among them, Paolo Sorrentino ‘La Grande Bellezza’, a 2012 Italian movie. The English title for this film is ‘The Great Beauty’. Humans are blessed with an impeccable eye for beauty. Even though the world has been filled with thousands of species, none of them attempts to translate the essence of beauty filled around us. Spike Jone’s ‘Adaptation’ is the second movie, an honest tribute to being passionate about something, it shows the beauty of caring about something truly and unconditionally. ‘La Grande Bellariza’ is about Jep Gambardella, a 65-year-old journalist, a man who calls himself as the king of high life in Rome. Cinematographer sets every frame and every single movement to bring justice to the title. The movie opens with some of the most vivacious shots you would ever see in a movie. There are a lot of zooms in and zoom out as if the Paolo Sorrentino is trying to deceive the viewer with some craft fully edited sequences. All of this ultimately pays tribute to the beauty of Rome, the splendid artworks of the human era. After this stream of picturesque frames fade along with a soothing traditional Italian music, we are enthralled with a rooftop party. Initially, we stand outside as an observer, we are shown old people partying like there is no tomorrow accompanied by the uncountable number of alcohol bottles. ‘La Grande Bellezza’ slowly marches its way into your head, like a crippling mind’s illicit affair with seductive art. The protagonist is defined completely when this party ends, in his words, he drinks a lot but not enough to go unruly and goes to bed when rest of the world wakes up. There is a frequent remembrance of the younger Jep, a cheerful lover exchanging deep glances with his love ‘Elisa’. This movie does include some surreal images and the existence of which is left unexplained. All of the frames can be enjoyed individually for its aesthetic sense but for the deeper meaning, we have to wait until the end. I would attribute the ravishing charm of Italian music to its rich legacy but when they are playing along with aesthetically brilliant scenes and sequences, they instill a sense of fulfillment to the listener. Paulo Sorrentino has left no senses to be unexcited by the great Cinema he has made. The sound of raindrops falling hard on an umbrella, innocent laughter of young children, all of these sounds which are often left unnoticed forms a melody of its own. ‘Le Grande Bellariza’ has many nuances, it could be construed as a movie about a writer being motivated to write his second novel after his fairly successful novel written forty years ago or an aging socialist’s free-spiritedness undergoing a transformation and several more. Each viewer can come up with their own perspective about the movie and it is meant to be so. Paolo Sorrentino doesn’t restrict us from reaching out to the supporting characters, a part of Jep evolves through them. This is Cinema in its voracious sense and is a true tribute to the beauty of the medium. The story is driven by each character present in Jep’s life, be it his maid or his friend’s stripper daughter. ‘Le Grande Bellezza’ is by no means of exaggeration a movie which shouldn’t be missed if you adore the beautiful things around you.
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