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Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope Is As Beguiling As It Is Alienating


Only Sorrentino could pull off something like this.

He makes resplendent movies that feel composed (visually and structurally) within an inch of their lives, but he lets in enough mystery that the people onscreen captivate us in unexpected ways. Early on, we watch young women walk down Naples’s sunny streets in slow-motion, holding up their colorful scarves that then blow in the wind like banners, an indication that winter has ended and spring has arrived. Over the course of this episodic film, Parthenope comes into contact with any number of figures: young lovers, a playboy who hovers above her in his helicopter, an aging actress, a gangster, a sleazy priest, and (in one odd and charming interlude) a very drunk John Cheever played by Gary Oldman.

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