Released on DVD & Blu-ray from Mon 13 Jan

Paolo Sorrentino / Italy/France / 2013 / 142 mins

The recent announcement of the 2014 BAFTA nominations further wets the anticipatory whistle of this year’s awards season and one of the contenders for Best Film not in the English Language is Paolo Sorrentino’s sublime and beguiling offering.

Based in Rome, Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo) is a respected arts journalist who once wrote a novel but hasn’t authored any literature since. Although fairly old, he exudes a youthful vitality as he and his host of eccentric friends enjoy throwing and attending lavish parties suited to their status as wealthy socialites. Upon hearing about the death of an old beau, Jep’s outlook on life begins to change.

Rather like Jep’s leisurely lifestyle, Sorrentino’s narrative dawdles along, not obviously heading in any specific direction, the lens instead relishing in displaying whatever it’s focused on. This is not to say the film is boring. Sorrentino’s gloriously seductive style draws you into the ambling plot. Shots are unhurried, often using long, almost wistful, tracking sequences, unworried about showing whoever’s speaking, focusing instead on presenting carefully crafted images. The mass of intriguing characters and events (the divorce party) and depiction of an extravagant lifestyle unfamiliar to many, adds to the fascination, even with the more everyday sequences.

The soundtrack too heightens interest, switching from rambunctious electronic rave sounds of the swanky dos to haunting choral melodies like John Tavener’s exquisite minimalist composition The Lamb. The variety of old and new musical styles is reflected in the film’s other aspects: an old character in a modern society or Rome’s ancient architecture updated by contemporary interior design. This interest in aging feels especially significant. Allusions to the degradation of superficial human beauty due to time’s unstoppable progression smatter the storyline: the stripper who is too old, the plastic surgery scene. This idea is counterpointed against the concept that art’s (and related bodies) attractiveness is frozen in perpetuity, neither improving nor degrading in quality, only changed by the individual’s perspective. This comparison of longevity is particularly striking. Due to the ephemeral nature of human beauty, inner and outer, perhaps it should be more highly cherished.