Parthenope

 

“Are you aware of the great disruption that your beauty causes?”

Sensual, sultry and sunbaked, Parthenope is a feminine epic that follows its titular intoxicating beauty as she navigates the folly of love, the fading of youth and the friction of morality in a transfixing film that’s almost as visually stunning as its gorgeous lead. 

Discussion Points:

Paolo Sorrentino’s films are always beautiful. Capturing the natural wonder of the Italian world - its people, places and problems, Parthenope is another Sorrentino exploration of the fading of youth and the power of beauty. Newcomer Celeste Dalla Porta is truly radiant - the camera adores her, mesmerised in her luminous youth and marvellous quick-wit. She is truly befitting the name of an intoxicating siren - Parthenope. Her beauty lures men to their destruction. And Sorrentino is unafraid to explore the transgressions her beauty causes from an incestuous sibling to an adulterous priest and others who find themselves drawn into her alluring orbit as her enchanting seduction radiates out from her elegance and sensuality. And the camera catches her beauty against stunning natural views and sunbaked skies. However, amidst its exploration of youth and beauty, and Parthenope’s own anthropological studies she undertakes - the film also features some truly bizarre moments that feel out of place with the more seductive summer tone of the film. From crime family consummations to obese oddities, there’s a scattering of scenes that likely could’ve hit the editing floor. However, at its core, the film is a transfixing epic about the need for beauty and its transformative power to distract from pain, even if only for a short moment.