Sorretino’s return to form and reunification with long time muse Toni Servillo as president of Italy who is considering his legacy as his term ends opened the 82nd Venice Film Festival.
Sorrentino succeeds in combining his artistic style with an understated exploration of the transience of life, permanence of grief and search for meaning in his most recent feature La Grazia. His protagonist, a fictional president of Italy Mariano de Santis is played with stoic elegance by his go-to muse Toni Servillo.
De Santis has six months left in his term and this coda after 7 years in office is more difficult than might be expected. His daughter is working hard to write a law on euthanasia that he would agree to sign and he is also expected to consider the pardon of two murderers who killed their spouses.
Servillo plays de Santis with poised familiarity which is helped with his breaking of the 4th wall at the very start and a nostalgic note is achieved with spatial misdirection that reveals de Santis’ fluid perception of memory and reality. Ana Ferzetti portrays de Santis’ daughter Dorotea with a combination of love, loyalty and despair as she can never satisfy her father or escape his influence.
In La Grazia, Sorrentino (who is also the writer) manages to contrast his themes visually, audibly as well as narratively. Through his quirky characters and lampoon twists, Sorrentino explores the generational gap, the notions of reality and fantasy, the toll of being the head of a family and much less that of heading the state.
Sorrentino frames his scenes and characters in a Rembrantian play of darkness and warm light. He toys with the absurd which is most obvious in the visit of the Portuguese president in which a sudden storm makes his walk on the red carpet a supernatural scramble. And let’s not forget the introduction of a magnetic black Pope that serves like an Italian in-joke.
Another unforgettable character is Cocco Valori who is delivered with over-the-top swagger by Milvia Marigliano. Even though Cocco should be jarring, Marigliano manages to wield her personality to balance against de Santis’ sombre mood.
It is important to mention the beats of techno and electro-music that pop up at most unexpected times and have an important role in thwarting audience expectations from this presidential feature as well as reconnecting de Santis with his estranged son.
La Grazia opens up many questions that relate to justice, courage and permanence and are delivered through poise and farce in equal measure so that one can never be sure whether to take the film seriously or with a dose of mockery. Grazia itself carries many meanings in Italian that relate to pardon, gratitude and grace. All of these notions occupy the characters during the film and the viewers are left with pondering the themes that Sorrentino opens up so lightly for a long time after the credits roll.
Our team is on the ground in Italy to cover the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, running from 27 August to 6 September 2025.
