By Arthur Osborne-Young
Paolo Sorrentino continues his expansion into Italian maximalism with his newest installation, Parthenope. Paolo’s connection to Naples is explored further in his boldest take on the city and his style; the story centers around the working life of our protagonist Parthenope, who, unlike the siren who washed up dead upon the shores of Naples, is birthed within them.
The film stars Celeste Dalla Porta, a fitting lead who comes across in an otherworldly and statuesque manner throughout the 2-hour and 17-minute runtime; it follows Parthenope’s working life with a focus on her emotional and intellectual experiences while studying anthropology. As you’re taken on this journey, she meets a host of eclectic characters, from Gary Oldman posing as alcoholic American author John Cheever to the initially frustrated anthropology professor Devoto Marotta, played by Silvio Orlando. They comment on her character, and she interacts, and as the story progresses, I quickly realize her effects on those who witness or become close to her are beyond the means of a human; this is because Paolo writes her not only as a human but also as an embodiment of Naples. As like the city, Parthenope interacts with everyone; her beauty, her surprise, and her anguish imprint themselves on those around her; inaction is action, and she sees everything but cannot change anything. As those who are lustful towards Parthenope are overgrown in their passion for Naples, those who fall out of love with Parthenope leave Naples and are ashamed, and those few who love her for who she is stay and understand what it is to live with pain and immense beauty.
On a technical level, the film is, as expected, a painterly spectacle with slow-moving Fellini-inspired shots and an exaggerated concern with light and color, which can be matched only by the Impressionists. The editing is abrupt, creating a unique watching experience, and the soundscape is melancholic, dreamlike, and nostalgic. All these features act as compliments to the allegory that Paolo attempts to achieve but they also create a sensory overload that lacks the proper substance to affect the viewer.
Parthenope is a bold project as it is fleeting in its narrative and frankly surface-level in much of its writing and intellectual musings. This makes for difficult viewing, as I struggled to connect with the characters and sometimes felt that I was watching a random montage of 2010s cologne commercials. However, as this is a deeply personal project for Paolo about the relationship between a person and their home, I found myself understanding that it was never going to be a simple story, as, like life, a relationship with one’s home comes with a nostalgia and full emotional spectrum that may come across as fleeting or surface level when collated, but through a more personal lens, it is an anthology of feeling over reason. And although I have never been to Naples, if I were to make a similar film about London, I can assure you that there would be no simple answer to why I love where I’m from, but maybe a collection of thoughts and feelings of all kinds could begin to tell you.
Notable Quotes
- “I have been sad and frivolous, determined and lazy, like Naples” // “Sono stato triste e frivolo, determinato e pigro, come Napoli.”
- “Don’t you find desire a mystery and sex its funeral?” // “Non trovi che il desiderio sia un mistero e il sesso il suo funerale?”
Overall Rating
4/5
