Erno Eszes
The Great Beauty’s protagonist does nothing, yet changes everything

Paolo Sorrentino’s latest film, The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) has received the Oscar for the best Foreign Language Film in 2014. The film is concerned with presenting, through the eyes of Jep Gambardella, the vibrant pulsing life of Romans and their eternal city. An observation can be made that the protagonist is living without any purpose, in an idle way, due to the glamorous and shiny imagery of the film and being absorbed by the organism-like public life.  Yet, as the film proceeds, it can be seen that under the surface a process is going on. The aim of this essay is to present how inner development is concealed in mundane life.

The film starts with the protagonist’s party. His sixty-fifth birthday makes him realize, firstly, that the most important things cannot be found at these gatherings and parties, and secondly that he “cannot waste more time on things he does not want to do”, so he must concentrate on doing something. He starts wandering through Rome, seeking for a glimpse of beauty and joy. As Benjamin Walters is cited in the New York Times’ review (Manohla Dargis, 2013), “the joy of watching is triumphant”. The tiny blissful moments are captured and eventually he manages to understand that life’s joy and beauty reside within these moments. During one of his walks, this time by the Tiber, he remembers when he  first came to this city, at the age of 26, in order to be the king of high life. However, not just to attend parties, but to be able to destroy them. This might seem an irrelevant comment, yet, it shows that he is able to view the high life up from above, distant; on the contrary, he became the part of it.

On the other hand, Jep’s awakening also has a violent and melancholic side. The flow of life also contains death. It hangs over The Great Beauty, in front of the statue of Garibaldi inscribed with the words Roma o Morte (Rome or death) as Jep is attending the funeral of his friend’s son (Manohla Dargis, 2013). Eventually, he gets carried away by his emotions in spite of the previous scene’s content, in which it is rationally listed what is expected and regarded appropriate at funerals. He mentions how one has to express condolences and what places to choose to go to express these feelings, so that everyone can see how sorry one is for the dead. Crying is not welcome since this would steal the show from the family members.  As the New York Times mentions, this is the Dolce Vita gone sour (Rachel Donadio, 2013). This also helps Jep realise that he is not living for ever; he is pushed forward by this death and other traumatic events like Ramona’s, a new friend’s death, he knows that he has to start writing again and to observe life to find The Great Beauty.

            To conclude, it can be seen that the protagonist is going through a change; yet he is concealed in superficiality and only by accidental glimpses into the depths he is moved forward in his journey; the pace as the city lives may show Jep’s process to be slow and idle. However, if two levels are differentiated it can be seen that along with the surface of mundane life there is an inner progress and development.

References:

Dargis, M. (2013, November 13). The Glory of Rome, the Sweetness of Life. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/movies/the-great-beauty-starring-toni-servillo.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Donadio, R. (2013, September 8). La Dolce Vita Gone Sour (and This Time in Color). The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/movies/paolo-sorrentinos-great-beauty-explores-italys-decline.html?ref=movies