La Grazia
Italy's President De Santis (Toni Servillo, "Il Divo," "The Great Beauty") is nearing the end of his term and several things are weighing on his mind. He is surprised to learn that his nickname is 'reinforced concrete,' while his right hand, daughter Dorotea (Anna Ferzetti), a lawyer, accuses him of running out the clock on decisions, especially on an assisted euthanasia bill she co-authored. Mariano also misses his late wife, Aurora, but still stews over the unknown lover she cheated on him with forty years earlier. And then there are the two pardons, both with controversies attached, awaiting "La Grazia."
Laura's Review: A-
Writer/director Paolo Sorrentino's ("The Great Beauty," "The Hand of God") last film released earlier this year, "Parthenope," was a bit of a letdown, but his veteran lead actor, Toni Servillo, appears to be a good luck charm as "La Grazia" finds the Italian filmmaker back on his game. This is a moving, pensive, often funny exploration of a man used to wielding great power facing life without it, a lifestyle that will also find the widower on his own, his devoted staff left to serve his successor.
The man we meet sneaks out to a rooftop for a daily cigarette and Dori, smelling the smoke on him, reminds him he only has one lung left as well as telling him the Prime Minister wants him to sign that euthanasia bill she's amended several times per his notes. He gives her more. Later on, he'll have dinner with his two oldest friends, Minister of Justice Ugo Romani (Massimo Venturiello) and outspoken art critic Coco Valori (Sorrentino eteran Milvia Marigliano, a real scene stealer), but because Dori has overseen dad's diet, Coco declares it 'not a dinner, but a suggestion,' and ups and leaves. The following day presents a spectacle as the aging Portuguese President arrives for an official visit only to have a windy, rainswept red carpet billow up and trip him, seen by his host as indication of mortality, just like dying horse Mariano refuses to have put down.
This sense of an ending is somewhat alleviated when the young and beautiful blond Lithuanian ambassador suggests he take her sightseeing once he leaves office, taking the man by surprise. Sorrentino introduces another unconventional Pope (Rufin Doh Zeyenouin), an old friend of Mariano's who doesn't offer outward advice, other than to say he doesn't believe he'll sign that bill. Dori has no compunction about pushing him in the opposite direction, posing the leading question 'Who owns our days?' And then the President consults his ever present cuirassier, personal honor and bodyguard Colonel Massimo Labaro (Orlando Cinque), to find out the name of song, leading to a surreal moment as the old man raps to 'Le bimbe piangono,' a song which references this film's director.
Things heat up when Mariano receives an office visit from Ugo who has come to plead the case of Isa Rocca (Linda Messerklinger, "Giallo"), a woman in jail for the murder of her abusive husband who, he admits, is the niece of his current lady friend. And when Mariano notes that he misses Aurora, the way Ugo replies 'I do too' leads his friend to become convinced that Ugo was that lover of forty years ago, an idea he won't let go of even when his friend denies it and Coco declares it ridiculous. The other pardon being floated involves Cristiano Arpa (Vasco Mirandola, 1991's "Mediterraneo"), a teacher who killed his dementia-afflicted wife, apparently a mercy killing. Arpa's entire home town is behind his pardon, yet the man himself says he does not want one. The President tries to pawn off these decisions on his daughter, who eventually has a contentious prison meeting with Rocca yet is moved by the man who waits for her daily outside the prison. Mariano makes the decision to meet with the other candidate himself, also making a stop to see old friends, Arpa's mayor and his wife.
There is a reason Sorrentino keeps casting Servillo, who makes this man known for his middle ground politics far more complex than we expect, his exterior calm containing a churning interior. "The Great Beauty" cinematographer Daria D'Antonio gives the film that rich, sharp look Sorrentino's films are known for, interiors often cast in velvety black shadow, Aurora imagined walking down a misty road in the distance, everything framed with precise composition. Fabrizio Elvetico, Marco Messina, and Sacha Ricci provide an electronic score which takes on more classical grandeur for emotional scenes. Sorrentino wraps everything up in ways both surprising and expected, the old man leaving office deciding to walk through the streets of Rome to his civilian apartment, where he does exactly what Dori has predicted - orders a pizza - before picking up a request he'd refused in office, an around about way to honor his late wife. "La Grazia" is a portrait of a beloved politician leaving office with grace.
Robin's Review: B+
Italian president Mariano de Santis (Toni Servillo) is nearing the end of his term in office. With that, he faces two very different challenges – whether or not to sign a controversial euthanasia bill into law and the pending pardons for two people convicted of murdering their spouses in “La Grazia.”
It would seem that these two acts – signing the bill and signing the pardons – are very different in reason and emotion. But, as Mariano’s story unfolds, it becomes apparent that these two acts are intertwined and representative of the man’s life of politics and decision.
While de Santis ponders on which decision to make, with a lot of help from his loyal and smart daughter, Dorotea (Anna Ferzetti), he also faces, and obsesses over, the past demon of his late wife’s infidelity 40 years ago and he will not let it go.
Toni Servillo, who also starred in director Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Great Beauty (2013),” plays his President of the Republic with a stern demeanor as he deals with the controversial subjects – which really amount to the same thing, we learn, as the story plays out.
Director Sorrentino co-writes the script with Virginia Jewiss in the telling of the waning years as one of the most powerful men in Italy. De Santis enjoys the trappings of his power and relishes the attention and acclaim he always receives. But, that is drawing to an end and he faces a quite different new life. Servillo gives a fine character study of such a man.
While most of the supporting characters are window dressing – the film belongs to Servillo – Anna Ferzetti believably plays the president daughter and right-hand-woman. She is the power behind the throne but is talented enough to sit on that throne.
By the way, Sorrentino and Servillo invent the character of Mariano de Santis from a broad piece of cloth and create a man in his waning years of his power and influence that will soon diminish and, then , vanish. His final acts may well be his legacy as the end of an era.
Mubi releases "La Grazia" in select theaters on 12/5/25, expanding on 12/12/25.
