LA GRAZIA
Director Paolo Sorrentino and actor Toni Servillo have formed one of the great partnerships in modern cinema history. Each made his debut with
L'uomo in più/One Man Up (2001), with Servillo playing an ageing crooner. He was a lonely businessman with Mafia connections in Le conseguenze dell'amore/The Consequences of Love (2004) and a grasping money lender in L'amico di famigli/The Family Friend (2006). Two years later, he excelled as divisive seven-time prime minister, Giulio Andreotti, in Il Divo (2008), while his performance as disillusioned writer Jep Gambardella helped La grande bellezza/The Great Beauty (2013) win the Golden Globe, the BAFTA, and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Slipping back into biopic, the pair took a pop at Silvio Berlusconi in Loro (2018) before Servillo took on the role of Sorrentino's father in the semi-autobiographical delight, È stata la mano di Dio/The Hand of God (2021).
Now, they return for an eighth collaboration on La Grazia (2025), a state of the nation treatise that earned the pair awards at the Venice Film Festival and nominations at the European Film Awards. Fittingly, for a political drama set in Rome, it is showing in London on the Ides of March under the auspices of CinemaItaliaUK before going on general release.
After opening captions outline the duties of the Italian president, Mariano De Santis (Toni Servillo) comes on to the roof of the Palazzo del Quirinale to have a crafty smoke and lament the passing of his beloved wife, Aurora, eight years earlier. He is in the White Semester of his term and he wonders what he can get away with not achieving in his last six months. Daughter Dorotea (Anna Ferzetti) scolds him for smoking when he only has one lung and insists on him only having quinoa and white fish at his dinner with classmate and radical art critic, Coco Valori (Milvia Marigliano), who chats the hind legs of Prime Minister Giulio Malerba (Simone Colombari), when he's invited to dine after a discussion of a euthanasia bill that De Santis has doubts about as both a jurist and a Roman Catholic.
Surprised to learn from General Lanfranco Mare (Giuseppe Gaiani) that his nickname is `Reinforced Concrete', De Santis prepares to welcome the president of Portugal (Cesare Scova). Confiding in cuirassier, Colonel Massimo Labaro (Orlando Cinque), he admits to dozing off while praying and hopes he doesn't look as frail as his guest. He stands mortified, as the old man struggles to get out of his car and proceeds to get caught in a downpour, while shuffling past the guard of honour on a red carpet that trips him over when it blows up in the wind.
Over a cigarette on the roof, De Santis thinks back to first seeing Aurora as a young man after his family had moved north from the Neopolitan provinces. He had been bewitched by the image of her walking through a rural morning mist. But she had cheated on him and he had never been able to get over the betrayal, even though he misses her as much as the son, who is now a successful songwriter in Canada. Dorotea worries about him, but she's still willing to confront him over the euthanasia bill. She accuses him of cowardice for not signing it and dismisses his Catholic guilt because she feels people should own their own lives not some specious deity. He's still feeling troubled by her question, `Who owns our days?', when he visits the ponytailed pope (Rufin Doh Zeyenouin), who refuses to offer easy sympathy when De Santis complains of loneliness before riding through the papal gardens on a motorbike after urging the president not to sign `the law of death'.
On his birthday, De Santis receives a visit from former classmate, Ugo Romani (Massimo Venturiello), who is now minister of justice. He has hopes that his old friend will recommend him for the presidency, but it concerned that there may be a conflict of interest in one of the two cases he has submitted for pardons, as the female killer, Isa Rocca (Linda Messerklinger), is the niece of Romani's current partner. De Santis suspects he might have been Aurora's lover, but he doesn't know for sure. Dorotea gives him headphones to listen to gangsta rapper Guè on his phone, but he has to ask Labaro to set them up for him, as he has his nightly smoke. He wonders about the Italian astronaut floating above him, but his mind drifts back to Aurora's funeral, when he got out of his seat because he had the feeling his wife's lover was in the congregation.
Suspicious of Romani for trying to coax Dorotea into pardoning Isa Rocca for murdering the husband who had beaten her for 15 years, De Santis keeps a close eye on him. However, he also examines the papers pertaining to her case and that of Cristiano Arpa (Vasco Mirandola), a much-respected history teacher who had mercy killed the beloved wife who had Alzheimer's. While pondering the cases, De Santis is taken aback by the departing Lithuanian ambassador (Alexandra Gottschlich) asking him to show her around Rome when their postings end. As she is much younger and has shown no interest in women since losing his wife, he says nothing and fails to notice the regretful twinkle in her eye.
Dorotea goes to Turin to meet Isa Rocca. She greets her with a hard stare and says she can't judge the case because she has never been in love or felt betrayed. When Dorotea suggests her attitude won't help her cause, Isa tells her that she merely committed an act of euthanasia because the man she had adored had been broken by his obsessions and she had put him out of his misery so she could be with her lover. The exchange shakes Dorotea, who meets the lover when she goes for a coffee and she is touched by his loyalty. Hurt by the suggestion that she is not breathing, Dororea calls her brother and confesses that she is feeling the strain after six government crises in seven years and the prospect of what will become of their father when he steps down.
After De Santis stands in front of a screen showing a modern dance routine, he bawls at Coco to reveal the name of Aurora's lover. But she only confirms it wasn't Romani and insists that her promise to withhold the truth extends beyond death. Having refused to put down a favourite horse, in spite of it being in agony, De Santis suggests amendments to the euthanasia bill. But he refuses to sign it and warns Dorotea that he can't pardon Isa Rocca because of her connection to Romani. He admits that bureaucracy is sometimes an inconvenience, but it also prevents decisions from being taken in ill-advised haste. Frustrated, Dorothea slams the bill on the table and walks along a corridor, with each footstep on the wooden floor echoing loudly.
Having been moved by the silent sight of Engineer Giordano (Fabrizio Bordignon) shedding a tear in zero gravity, De Santis accuses Romani of cuckolding him. Declaring that his old friend has lost his mind, he leaves the room. De Santis goes to visit Elvis, the dying horse, and Dorotea asks why he can't have him put down - and he replies because he never asked him to die. Frustrated, she reminds him that Romani will sign the bill as soon as he takes office and announces that she is going to stay with her brother, as she can't stand the prospect of watching her father leave office. They admit they know little about each other because they are so buttoned-up. But she tells him that the statute of limitations has passed on her mother's adultery and she hugs him tightly after telling him to let go of the past and make changes so he can rediscover his excitement for life in retirement.
Having confessed his woes to the pope, who informs him he has grace, De Santis mourns the death of Elvis and tells secretaries Maria Gallo (Alessia Giuliani) and Domenico Samaritano (Roberto Zibetti) that he is going to travel to Milan to see the place where he first met Aurora and visit Cristiano Arpa in prison. as he is intrigued by the 73 year-old's refusal to read, exercise, or eat more than the bare minimum.
After singing a verse of his father's regimental song at a reunion dinner, De Santis returns to the farmhouse where he had grown up. He tells Labaro that he intends resigning two weeks before his time is up so he can retain the vote in the next presidential election. Labaro commends him on his astuteness and De Santis deadpans that he had heard about his reputation for intelligence. He calls on the mayor of Arpa's town (Lucio Zagaria) and asks for his views on the petition. He admits he didn't sign it because his wife dislikes Arpa and suspects him of fooling everyone by secretly being unfaithful. De Santis is intrigued by his insight and asks Mare if he's making a mistake in visiting him. The general admits it's unusual, but says everyone does something out of character sometimes - he once smoked a joint confiscated from his son's room. But it had no effect as he didn't know how to inhale, unlike De Santis, who takes a long draw on his cigarette, as he ponders his next act.
He meets Arpa in the same rainbow-decorated room in which Dorotea had seen Isa Rocca. De Santis asks Arpa if he misses teaching, but he claims he taught no one, as he merely acted out the textbook for the amusement of his students. Asked if he also acted at home, Arpa refuses to answer and, denying the charge of adultery, challenges the accusation that letting himself die contradicts a promise to live in his last letter to his wife before he strangled her. He shrugs when De Santis says murder out of love is an overused defence. But he makes the president think when he says he just wants to forget and feel light again, as De Santis had said something similar about his fixation with Aurora's infidelity. He's also struck by Arpa's declaration that it isn't always possible to abide by one's principles.
Following a warm reception at La Scala, De Santis confesses to Coco that he wishes he could dream. She is touched by his words and reveals that she had been Aurora's lover. He holds back the tears and holds his friend's hand, as they drive in the darkness. A few days later, he leaves office and shakes hands with a long line of his staff. When Samaritano apologises for them not getting along, De Santis thanks him for the elegant way in which they had handled their antipathy. He asks Labaro if he can walk to his apartment and people on the pavement nod, as he walks past surrounded by security guards and led by a robotic police dog.
One day, he sees the Lithuanian ambassador going past and he decides to call the editor of Vogue (Ornella Amodio), who had been pestering him to do an article on his dress sense. Protesting that he is a dull, grey man, he wanders through Aurora's wardrobe, he had described her colours and the way she had reacted to a compliment, shortly before she died, when he had called her `my girl'. Reining in his emotions, he informs the editor that he signed the euthanasia bill because his daughter had convinced him and because he had realised that the grace the pope had told him about is the ability to recognise the beauty of doubt.
As Isa Rocca sits in her cell, Cristiano Arpa goes on day release. When Dorotea and brother Riccardo (Francesco Martino) face time him, De Santis reveals that he freed the former because she had no choice but to kill her husband because she loved him too much to leave him (even though he would keep battering her), while he denied the latter because he had never really loved his wife. Riccardo plays his father his latest song, which incorporates the beep of the space station's communication feed and De Santis feels moved enough to imagine himself floating in his dark suit in the capsule.
Closing captions reveal that Isa and her lover broke up six month after her release, while Dorotea joined a dance class. Romani failed to win the presidency by a single vote and wags claim it was cast by De Santis. He continues to serve as a senator for life and has a light supper in his apartment each night with Coco. However, she keeps telling him to get off her back, as he clearly mithers her for details of her fling with Aurora.
More than a riposte to populism in all its appalling forms, this fine film also serves as a timely reminder of the need for dignity and responsibility in high office. Sorrentino's screenplay contains echoes of the views he experessed with such trenchancy in Il divo and Loro. But he's less intent on critiquing here than in extolling the virtue of looking before leaping when it comes to making policy and passing laws. We never learn anything about the six crises that De Santis averted, but the respect he commands from his people is evident among both the toffs at the opera and the ordinary Romans who don't reach for their phone, but pause in admiration for a man who had seemingly acted out of their best interests.
Contrasting his reluctant readiness to do his duty with Romani's naked ambition, Sorrentino slightly pushes his luck in making Isa Rocca the niece of the justice minister's partner, as it would seem unlikely that they would move in the same circles. Nevertheless, he atones with the marvellous scene between De Santis and the small-town mayor, as they push through the niceties of protocol to edge closer to the truth. The fact that both men adore their wives makes the scene even more amusing, as no women appear to hold cabinet posts, despite Dorotea's obvious talent, Valeria's discreet efficiency, Coco's straight-talking prudence, and Isa's doughty sense of self-worth.
All four performance are excellent, with Anna Ferzetti deftly tinting her filial devotion with moral frustration. But such is the magnitude of Toni Servillo's performance that it's almost impossible to take one's eyes off him. He doesn't give much away, with his face remaining largely impassive. Yet seeking to derive meaning from his expressions immerses viewers in both his personal and political dilemmas, while also giving them an idea of what it must feel like to shoulder the burdens of state when principle and conscience matter more than self-advancement and social media likes. One or two megalomaniacal incumbents around the world might well burst into flames if they were forced to sit down and watch this.
This isn't all about the content, however. Daria D'Antonio's cinematography is exceptional, whether capturing the rustic morning haze through which De Santis first caught sight of his lady love or engulfing him in the crepuscular gloom that accentuates the solemnity of his situation. The slow-motion arrival of the Portuguese president is excruciatingly well-staged, as is the intimate moment between De Santis and Coco in the back of the car after she makes her confession. Equally noteworthy are the exchanges with the Lithuanian ambassador and the diffident mayor, which are both quietly amusing and unexpectedly poignant.
Ludavica Ferrario's production design, Carlo Poggioli's costumes, and Cristiano Travaglioli's editing are also first rate, as is Mirko Perri's sound design, which employs sudden bursts of echo, music, or shouting to counterpoint the president's contemplative stillness. Sorrentino's films have always looked good, but the visuals here are of Great Beauty calibre and that is high praise indeed. Moreover, by reining in the operatic flamboyance for which he has become renowned, Sorrentino has produced a parable on the use of power that should remind us all of the standards we should expect of our elected representatives if democracy is to emerge in one piece from our age of self-serving plutocrats peddling deep-fake imagery, unverified `facts', and hate-fuelled paranoia.