This is a film that is good for the eyes and the soul! Parthenope by Paolo Sorrentino celebrates beauty in all its forms. The city of Naples serves as a setting for a modern mermaid embodied by a marvelous discovery, Celeste Dalla Porta who begins her career with this film built around her. She caused a sensation in Cannes.
“I didn’t write the film for Celeste, but I adapted it around her after I found her. I made it a point of honor for her to be confident and to flourish on set. » The sublime beauty of the 26-year-old actress is evident in every aspect.
If Naples were a woman
Beauty has always been at the center of Paolo Sorrentino’s filmography. Didn’t he make a film called The Great Bellezza ? “Beauty attracts and isolates,” he explains. It can create terrible jealousies. Make crazy. » Her heroine, who dreams of being a novelist, does not want to be just an object of desire. She wants to gain respect through her brilliant intellectual abilities that her very advantageous appearance often causes to be overlooked. Love cannot be enough to fill it.
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“Parthenope is like Naples,” declares the filmmaker. Beautiful, wild, spontaneous, surprising. We love him madly which sometimes causes him problems. » The sublime images of the city and the woman intertwine for a sublime, captivating and intense filmed poem.
A Palme d’Or on the program?
Paolo Sorrentino does not hide his emotion at being back on the Croisette. “I owe my career to Cannes where I came for the first time twenty years ago with The Consequences of Love, confides the director and I am always moved to come back to it. It’s impossible to describe what it feels like to see your film on such a big screen. » The quality of the projection is all the more justified for such a grandiose work.
The benefits of beauty
“Seeing beautiful things is beneficial,” insists the filmmaker. That’s why I needed to show it so much. In our world, it is essential to escape through art. » Its aesthetic and humanist qualities make it Parthenope a serious contender for the Palme d’Or. After Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard, a new heroine in etching has conquered the festival.