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This review was originally published on May 22, 2024 out of the Cannes Film Festival.
We are recirculating it now timed toParthenopes theatrical release.
Thats the provocative logline, I suppose.
Only Sorrentino could pull off something like this because his characters exist both as symbols and people.
Before Parthenope is born, her young brother, Raimondo, blows on his moms pregnant belly.
Well see Raimondo make this gesture again later in both loving and tragic ways.
In this directors world, what something like this may actually suggest is up for grabs.
Both boys are somewhat smitten with her.
All men seem to be frozen by Parthenopes beauty, which Sorrentino has some fun with.
Parthenope is not only beautiful; shes also brilliant.
Sorrentinos films are all about not knowing.
He does the same thing with people.
His characters do wild things but purposely lack clear motivations.
That would seem to be a mistake, and it probably would be in the hands of most directors.
(I imagine screenwriting teachers never stop vomiting when they see Sorrentino pictures.)
But here, absence spurs further engagement.
We become obsessed with these characters.
At least I do.
Theres nothing particularly lustful about the imagery in this film.
If anything, it all feels weirdly opaque.
The chilliness, the slight artificiality of such scenes, is intentional.
Without such distractions, hes unlikely to attract the same attention or praise.
But hes making more personal work now.
AndParthenopegradually becomes about something other than one persons beauty.
