āParthenopeā Review: Goddess Worship ā The New York Times
āBeauty is like war ā it opens doors,ā says the middle-aged American writer John Cheever (Gary Oldman) to Parthenope (Celeste Dalla Porta), a statuesque brunette from Naples whom he meets at a resort. Itās southern Italy, 1973, and Cheever (Oldman in a small but memorably melancholic part) strikes up a friendship with her early on in the film.
āParthenope,ā a characteristically decadent drama by the director Paolo Sorrentino, is about all the doors opened by Parthenopeās beauty. At first ā when sheās seen primarily in a bikini, lounging by crystalline ocean waters ā this means capturing the hearts of male suitors, like her namesake siren from Greek mythology.
Cheever, who in real life spent years traveling around Italy, is one of the few men in the film who is immune to her charms ā maybe itās the booze, or his repressed yearning for men. Or maybe its because a woman like her should be admired from a distance as one does a religious icon or marble statue.
If this way of idealizing women sounds painfully retrograde, know that Sorrentino isnāt interested in realism ā or political correctness, for that matter. His work (including the Oscar winner āThe Great Beautyā and the HBO series āThe Young Popeā) is less about people than it is about big ideas: art, desire, religion, and, yes, beauty; the way they shape our lives with an almost mystical power.
Now add to this an enduring fixation with Sorrentinoās native Italy, its past and present, and its contradictions. The country is home to some of the worldās great triumphs ā think ancient Rome and the Sistine Chapel ā but the director also depicts it as a hotbed of spiritual rot personified by its corrupt leaders. At one point in the film, Parthenope enjoys a dalliance with a monstrous bishop (Peppe Lanzetta), representing a union of the sacred and the profane.
āParthenope,ā like Sorrentinoās previous films, is an intentionally garish display of sex and luxury that is both irritating and oddly seductive. From the opening scene, in which baby Parthenope is gifted a carriage from Versailles, thereās an otherworldly feel that runs through the film, accented by gliding pans, voyeuristic close-ups and touches of the surreal.
Beginning in 1950, Parthenopeās birth year, the film quickly skips ahead to 1968 ā and later the ā70s ā showing her maturation through a series of symbolic interactions with other people. Thereās her romance with a local boy (Dario Aita) and her vaguely incestuous relationship with her older brother (Daniele Rienzo). For a spell, she considers becoming an actress, though gloomy encounters with two older divas (Isabella Ferrari and Luisa Ranieri) dissuade her.
Parthenope also has a beautiful mind. At university she earns top marks in the anthropology department and wins over a grumpy professor (Silvio Orlando) who eventually becomes her mentor and guides her to a tenure track position.
This is Sorrentinoās first movie in which the main character is a woman, and because heās more interested in deifying Parthenope than he is in humanizing her, the portrait is inherently limited ā and frequently dull. The opulence on display, coupled with the filmās languid visual style, can feel anesthetizing.
At least the hypnotizing Dalla Porta brings a strength and sadness to the role that underscores the filmās most compelling argument: Beauty may inspire awe and worship, but it also alienates. Can you ever be loved if you can never truly be known?
Parthenope
Rated R for nudity, suicide and sexual activities. Running time: 2 hours 16 minutes. In theaters.
#Parthenope #Review #Goddess #Worship #York #Times