Parthenope

"Parthenope is a film by Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty), and, as such, it suffers from many of his recurring virtues and flaws. The plot follows the protagonist of the same name (an hypnotic Celeste Dalla Porta) through her youth, university life, her peculiar relationship with her brother, random encounters with writers, great actresses, and more. As a typical Sorrentino film, it has undeniable visual beauty, as well as a script filled with melancholic aphorisms about the nature of life, love, Italian identity, and particularly that of Naples, the city where most of the plot unfolds. However, as the story progresses, indulging in its excesses, this beauty becomes somewhat superficial. The narrative eventually dilutes its ideas about embracing life, and although it retains some of that powerful, nostalgic, and absurdist spirit, there is also a lingering uncertainty about what it all meant. A beautiful but somewhat excessive film, it falls short of Sorrentino's best efforts."