Review: La Grazia
by Jan Lumholdt
- VENICE 2025: Politics and existentialism are lent exquisite, low-key Italian beauty in Paolo Sorrentino’s new film, starring his regular Toni Servillo
The 82nd Venice International Film Festival was opened by none other than the President of the Italian Republic, albeit a fictional one. Portrayed with seasoned gravitas by Toni Servillo against Paolo Sorrentino’s sumptuous canvas, that could arguably be even better than the real thing. La Grazia plays in the competition section, where, going by immediate reactions, it feels a significant contender.
In lieu of the Palazzo del Cinema, Sorrentino brings us to La Scala in Milano before a grand opera night, where president Mariano De Santis is greeted with the warmest applause by the affectionate audience. What we don’t see is the grand opera itself, just like we never see the big drama of high politics. Six major crises have occurred during De Santis’s presidency, we learn; he has expertly nipped them all in the bud, and carries the in-house nickname “Reinforced Concrete”. He’s now in his mid-70s, is a widower of eight years with two grown and successful children, has a distinguished background in law and is six months away from retirement. A few physical ailments hamper his lifestyle habits, and these days he’s ordained a strict and unexciting diet. He does smoke one cigarette a day – with great bliss and a hint of melancholia. He falls asleep when praying. He never dreams at night. He is plagued by doubts. That few faces project such sentiments quite like Servillo’s in a Sorrentino film can be exquisitely relished already in the opening moments.
A couple of vital matters still reside on his presidential desk. A bill on the legalisation of euthanasia awaiting a signature is one, with De Santis’s own daughter Dorotea, herself an accomplished legal scholar, being part of the commission process. Both she and, growingly, public opinion are on the pro side, while the Vatican side is less enthusiastic. “Either I’ll be called a torturer or a murderer” is the president’s assessment of his dilemma.
Another bother is constituted by the pardon petitions for two convicts jailed for the first-degree murder of their respective spouses – cases involving physical marital abuse and an irrevocable stage of Alzheimer’s. They are all big questions, but are hardly bigger than De Santis’s agonies regarding his own place at this point in life. The biggest involves Aurora, his lifelong love and daily missed wife, and growingly, the act of infidelity she committed 40 years ago. It becomes the matter taking precedence over everything else residing on his desk, or elsewhere. With six major political crises all curtailed with grace and savvy, does this responsible, remarkable leader, father and man still have that “Grace” – “La Grazia”?
While he admits to doing a take, of sorts, on Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Decalogue, Sorrentino’s handling of these existential themes becomes a work all of his own, refreshingly low-key and impeccably enhanced by his main actor from (so far) seven works of often considerable merit from the duo. Of these, La Grazia resides alongside The Great Beauty [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile], regarding both the “Great” bit and certainly the “Beauty” one. Equalling Mariano De Santis’s qualities with any current high-ranking politician is a trickier task though – certainly when it comes to the “Grazia” part.
La Grazia was produced by Italy’s Fremantle, The Apartment, Numero 10 and PiperFilm. Its sales are overseen by The Match Factory.
Photogallery 27/08/2025: Venice 2025 - La grazia
21 pictures available. Swipe left or right to see them all.
© 2025 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it
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