"Paolo Sorrentino has rediscovered his voice, his wan humour and his flair for the surreal and sensational set piece; this wintry, elegant movie is a welcome reassertion of his natural style after the facile and weirdly humourless affectations of his previous, very disappointing film Parthenope. It is a dry comedy of grief and regret which wears its dreamy melancholy and ennui like a well-tailored if fussily old-fashioned suit,"
"The scene is Rome, and Servillo is Mariano, the president of Italy, nearing the end of his term of office, admired for his rectitude and stately bearing and perhaps also, in having won the presidency, for having thwarted an extremist candidate. (A rather amazing set piece scene at La Scala has a tuxed member of the audience call out to him You saved us from that fool!)"
Paolo Sorrentino returns to a wintry, elegant style, blending wan humour with surreal and sensational set pieces in a dry comedy of grief and regret. The film wears dreamy melancholy and ennui like a well-tailored, old-fashioned suit and revisits tableaux of political power reminiscent of Il Divo and The Great Beauty. Toni Servillo stars as Mariano, an aging Italian president and former judge, admired for rectitude and nicknamed 'reinforced concrete.' The narrative includes striking set pieces, including a La Scala moment, and concludes with a note of euphoric sentimentality while remaining intriguing and exhilarating despite occasional overreach.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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