CANNES – If we know anything about Paolo Sorrentino, it’s that he adores his hometown of Naples, Italy. His last directorial effort, “The Hand of God,” was a love letter to the port city, and, in something of a surprise, he taps that well once again for “Parthenope,” a title in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. A movie that chronicles a woman’s long and unexpected journey from a captivating young goddess to a respected academic.
This tale begins in 1950 when our heroine is delivered in a water birth in the Gulf of Naples. When her mother asks her grandfather what to name her, he points to the sky and yells, “Parthenope!” It’s almost as though he’s championing a destiny of greatness for his granddaughter. And by the time Parthenope is in her early 20’s (Celeste Dalla Porta, utterly captivating), it’s apparent she’s already the apple of everyone’s eye. Her friend Sandrino (Dario Aita) is madly in love with her (he seems the type to ask her to marry him multiple times a week), and her equally sexy older brother Raimondo (Daniele Rienzo, absolutely smoldering) is just as obsessed with her. While her sibling procrastinates over his career, Parthenope demonstrates she’s as smart as she is beautiful. A fact that frustrates her university advisor, Prof Devoto Marotta (Silvio Orlando), who wonders why she’s taken so long to get her undergraduate degree.
Much to the chagrin of their parents, Raimondo convinces Parthenope and Sandrino to escape to Capri for the summer. They really can’t afford it, but Sandrino is convinced the trio will get by on their youthful looks on an island where the party lasts all night and you sleep all day. It’s there Parthenope has a chance encounter with literary giant John Cheever (Gary Oldman, giving the sad old gay man cliche) who, after taking a shine to her, throws out some life advice that never feels inherent to the movie.
Hinted earlier, Sandrino has an intimate passion for his sister that is somehow not called out by friends and family. And there is an erotic moment where he, Parthenope, and Sandrino almost put that free love spirit of the ’70s to the test (Italian directors teasing three ways seems to be a thing in 2024). But then tragedy strikes, and Parthenope finds herself alone, with her parents now distraught and cold to her.
In the years that follow, Parthenope experiences all that Naples has to offer in one way or another. She dates a member of the mafia, attempts an acting career (strangely not truly explored in the film), and learns some life lessons from an aging, scene-stealing diva, Greta Cool (Luisa Ranieri), who hilariously rips the city to shreds during a charity event (we’re advocating for a Greta Cool spin-off series). But time and time again, she keeps returning to her studies with Prof. Marotta. Is it her one true calling or is she just bored of the attention? Maybe she’s not cut out to be a legendary Italian diva in the vein of Ms. Cool.
Throughout the film, which is beautifully shot by Daria D’antonio, the men who pine after Parthenope ask her “What are you thinking?” It’s a common refrain in all eras of her life. And as a student of Anthropology, it’s obvious what she’s thinking. She’s studying everyone around her. And, as the years pass the characters she encounters become inherently more interesting than Parthenope herself. In fact, Parthenope’s fictional life story may actually not be as intriguing as Sorrentino thinks it is. A movie that begins with blistering sex appeal really starts to lose momentum in its third act.
As for Naples, Sorrentino isn’t the first filmmaker to profess his love for his city. Woody Allen and New York were synonymous for decades, while Paul Thomas Anderson and Los Angeles are indelibly intertwined. And when yet another salute to the city arrives to end the film, a moment that seems out of place considering Parthenope’s life story, you start to hope Sorrentino might harness his considerable talents somewhere else the next time around. [B]
