Movie: Parthenope

According to Academy Award-winner Italian director Paolo Sorrentino his latest movie Parthenope is a film about the sacred.

“It’s about all the things that a woman has not been able to forget in her 73 years of life,” he explains.

“The Bay of Naples and her parents, her first loves – one pure and bright the other sordid and unspeakable – the perfect Capri summer, those fleeting fateful encounters, the discovery of seduction and the dizziness of freedom, the desperate search for her true self, the sorrows that plunge her into adulthood, the inexorable passing of time, the only lover who never leaves her.”

Sorrentino, who is renowned for his art house movies including The Great Beauty, Hand of God and Youth, could have also added that Parthenope is a film that shows that being beautiful and intelligent doesn’t necessarily bring you happiness!

And Parthenope (played by newcomer Celeste Dalla Porta) is a true beauty, captivating just about every man and woman she comes across in her teenage years.

Born in Naples in 1950 and named after the legendary Greek siren associated with the foundation of the city, the film charts Parthenope’s life from her teenage years to her mid-30s.  It then briefly revisits her life in her 70s (when Stefania Sandrelli takes over the role of Parthenope).

We learn her brother Raimondo (Daniele Rienzo) and her first love Sandrino (Dario Aita) are both in awe of her. But a holiday in Capri leads to a tragic outcome which stays with her forever.

That holiday also brings Parthenope in contact with the novelist, John Cheever (Gary Oldman), one of the few men she comes across without having a sexual encounter.

Another is her anthropology professor, Devoto Marotta  (Silvio Orlando). Through her interaction with him we learn Parthenope is extremely intelligent. Thanks to his influence, after flirting with the idea of an acting career, she decides her future lies in academia.

Sorrentino uses Parthenope’s encounters with those she comes across to spotlight different aspects of Neapolitan life and some of its more colourful residents. Some are positive, others not so.  It’s easy to see why the film’s  photography director, Daria d’Antonio, won this year’s Cannes Film Festival for the best artist technician.

Parthenope’s fling with a gangster spotlights the poorer areas of the city. It also highlights a bizarre ritual amongst some of its wealthier residents as she joins a crowd of dignitaries to witness a young couple explicitly consummating the union of two great Neapolitan families.

Another bizarre scene involves Parthenope’s interaction with local Bishop (Peppe Lanzetta) who seems far more interested in matters of the flesh than religion! The scene also lampoons San Gennaro’s supposed ‘continuing miracle’ of the liquefaction of the blood, outraging many Italian Catholics.

Parthenope’s interest in acting brings her in contact with a former actress who is now an acting coach and who covers her face due to botched cosmetic surgery.  Her interaction with another, a current star Greta Cool (Luisa Rainieri), shows not everyone is a fan of Naples.

Given the storyline and some of the scenes in the 130 minute movie, Parthenope is most likely to appeal to art house movie lovers and/or Sorrentino’s distinctive cinematic movie-making style.

Parthenope opens in cinemas around Australia on December 26.

*Photo credit:  Gianni Fiorito