Paolo Sorrentino is a director who has always been interested in the idea of beauty, specifically female beauty, and how it transfixes individuals. That same idea is seen in Parthenope, Sorrentino’s newest outing, as Parthenope (Celeste Dalla Porta) is referred to as a goddess by all the men around her in Naples. When watching Parthenope, it felt as if I was watching a parody of himself that wasn’t particularly good and, at times, sleazy.
Parthenope is in love with her brother, Raimondo (Antonio Annina), and towards the end, in her final monologue, she talks about how Naples is a city that was proud because it was different, immediately cutting back to Sandrino. I found it a bizarre way of Sorrentino representing the proud differences Naples has through this incestual relationship.
When the film focuses on the love Sorrentino has for his home city of Naples, the film is at its best. I love it when Parthenope says, “They are here to see Naples undress,” as I was really interested in this idea of Sorrentino showing Naples in all its beauty and disgust.
A great example is when Greta Cool (Lusia Ranieri), an actress that Parthenope has been told to go see perform, goes on a rant about how Naples is a dump and its residents are lowlifes, but then Parthenope walks with Giovanni Buselli (Gennaro Criscuolo) back to his street in a beautiful scene where people drop blue lanterns from their windows. The tonal and visual shift from Cool’s rant to the lights in Naples allows Sorrentino to say, “Yeah, the city has issues, but it also has great beauty.”
What disappointed me was that you have this beautiful scene, and then we have this awkward sequence when Giovanni, who is part of a crime family, takes Parthenope to witness two young people from two crime families have sex. The moment is meant to bring the crime families together, but it feels sleazy. From a character perspective, Parthenope doesn’t gain anything from the experience.
The film wants this to be a character’s journey, but sequences like this don’t move the character forward. Instead, it all feels awkward.
Shifting from such beauty to a sleazy, useless scene feels as if Sorrentino is leaning into a level of absurdity that has no meaning. There is nothing wrong with a film having an erotic feel to it, but here, there was no sense of elegance. The scenes felt disjointed.
Another issue is that I didn’t get a sense of who Parthenope was, similar to almost every character treating her as a goddess. We never saw what lay beneath her beauty, and by the end, when we met the older version, we still didn’t really know who Parthenope was as a person.
Despite its negatives, Sorrentino gives true personality to his city. We see this best in the opening with young people with new, modern fashion hanging outside stone buildings. It’s a city stuck in the past and the future.
One aspect isn’t in doubt: cinematographer Daria D’Antonio creates a beautiful film. Daria captured Naples fantastically, and, towards the end, she captures an amazing scene of Napoli fans celebrating on a float. It’s a place proud of its connection to the sea, and its club is just fantastic looking on film.
As the lead, Porta brings confidence to Parthenope, and you get why so many people fall under her spell. But, I felt the script doesn’t give enough space to show me Parthenope outside of her beauty. Alas, Porta couldn’t add much more to the performance.
Gary Oldman makes a memorable supporting cameo as an alcoholic writer named John Cheever. He is fine, but he’s every alcoholic writer you have ever seen.
Parthenope, at times, shows signs of being an interesting tribute to Sorrentino’s beautiful home of Naples. However, in a film about a character’s journey, I still don’t know what journey Parthenope was on.
Review Courtesy of Matthew Allan
Feature Image from Phoenix Film Festival