Parthenope: Film Review
Italian writer-director Paolo Sorrentino has previously made films titled Youth and The Great Beauty, and he revisits those themes in his new movie Parthenope.
The coming-of-age drama tells the story of an undeniably beautiful girl named Parthenope (Celeste Dalla Porta). It follows her life across several time periods, from 18 years old in 1968 until her retirement in 2023. Many men pursue and fall in love with her but she’s always looking for someone else or the next experience, searching for true love, purpose and happiness.
Considering this is a film about one person and we follow her for more than two hours, you’d think we’d get to know her quite well. But she seems so indifferent to everything that it’s hard to discern what she thinks about anything. I appreciate that some people are mysterious and enigmatic but she was so hard to read that I couldn’t understand her or invest in her journey. We get small windows into her mindset later on but it’s not enough.
Because she flits between so many different people, it was a relief when she formed a consistent bond with her anthropology professor Devoto Marotta (Silvio Orlando). The strict, stuffy teacher doesn’t take her seriously at first – because she’s so attractive – but he comes to respect her intellect and their bond evolves nicely in the later chapters of the film. It was refreshing to witness this substantial, permanent relationship amid all of Parthenope’s random encounters, including sex-watching parties, a flirtation with acting and a meeting with alcoholic writer John Cheever (Gary Oldman, who has a smaller role than expected).
Two hours and 15 minutes is a long runtime considering not much happens. Parthenope is distracted and directionless and we just follow her around as she tries to figure out her purpose. There are plenty of unnecessary scenes along the way that could have been cut and the story wouldn’t have been affected. In particular, I couldn’t understand why Sorrentino included the most bizarre and uncomfortable scenes. They took me right out of the film and I couldn’t figure out how they served the story or what he was trying to say.
The cinematography and production design are simply gorgeous and newcomer Dalla Porta is a captivating presence but Parthenope cannot escape the fact that Sorrentino’s poorly-written title character lacks emotional depth and substance.
In cinemas from Friday 2nd May. Streaming on MUBI from Friday 4th July.