Director Paolo Sorrentino returns to the cinema with his newest film, Parthenope. It is the story of a woman from Naples, Italy, born in 1950, and we see most of her young life as she searches through life for understanding and what she wants to do. It’s structured a bit like a myth set in modern times; it’s not really based on the Greek and Roman siren of myth. Celeste Dalla Porta plays the titular Parthenope, a woman we first meet around 18 and before she begins university. She is treated as the most beautiful girl in all of Naples, utterly captivating by any man who lays eyes upon her. She’s intellectually unsatisfied and treasures freedom over whatever life is expected of her. She chooses anthropology as her field of study under the tutelage of Devoto Marotta (Silvio Orlando). She decides to live a very beautifully shot life with love and losses as she ends up understanding the world and her home better.
Credit: Gianni Fiorito. Courtesy of A24.
I saw this film in a screening of just seven other people. All critics – and I think I was the only one who really enjoyed it. Some thought it was weird or just okay. But you see, I kind of like this kind of no clear point and obtuse at times type of pretty-looking European filmmaking. It’s a real Croisant eating, pinky out, scratching that art school itch type of film. One of the first things I noticed was that Saint Laurent was part of the producing partners and you can tell. Through Daria D’Antonio‘s cinematography, this film felt like watching a story told through Vogue Italia’s photo feature spread. The costuming is incredible, and every piece drapes perfectly on each actor in every scene. It’s a life of leisure and abundance in the most beautiful of landscapes and locales that most of us will never experience.
The other character that really feels important is her brother Raimondo, played by Daniele Rienzo. Their relationship in the story can be a bit offputting, but his character is as lost as she is in searching, which leads to a tragic outcome that has the most significant effect on her life and her family’s life and pushes the story forward. The thing is, it happens pretty far along in the runtime. That can lead to some viewers being antsy and feeling the film has no real direction. It has a nice small part for Gary Oldman as author John Cheever, but he’s not in it enough for those coming to see this film for him. You’ll be disappointed. I think the sensuality and displays of sex will also be off-putting for some or just silly. While everything in this worked for me overall, I can see where others might not rock with it like I do. This might be worth checking out on streaming later, even though you’d lose a lot from not seeing these visuals on a big screen.
Credit: Gianni Fiorito. Courtesy of A24.
I feel like this review is also all over the place and amorphous in how I’m talking about this film. Parthenope, in its telling of a coming-of-age story of a woman and her life, feels much like life in that it doesn’t have a straight-line narrative that’s easy to follow. Life is never like that, and while some people might have less eventful lives that make it hard to relate to her journey, there are those who can relate to some of the things she experiences or are more open to such people and places. It makes the film a rewatchable piece of art and one I plan on revisiting in the future.
Score: B+
