LA GRAZIA Luminaries

Filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino reunites with actor Toni Servillo in this parable-like tale of parliamentary politics and difficult decisions. Servillo, who previously starred for Sorrentino in ONE MAN UP, THE CONSEQUENCES OF LOVE, IL DIVO, THE GREAT BEAUTY, LORO and THE HAND OF GOD, here plays President Mariano De Santis of Italy, an office which plays an important role in finalizing parliamentary legislation but is cut off from the real power in government, which is controlled by the prime minister. Nearing the end of his term, and bereft at the loss of his beloved wife several years prior, De Santis has been going through the motions for some time, micromanaged by his daughter Dorotea (Anna Ferzetti), who, as his chief of staff, has become accustomed to doing her father’s thinking for him. Nicknamed “Cemento armato” (reinforced concrete) for his stolidity and caution, De Santis nevertheless remains a keen legal mind, even as he struggles with aging and depression. After years of coasting, he’s finally roused to action when asked to make a series of potentially legacy-defining decisions: whether to sign a landmark bill to legalize euthanasia in Italy; whether to grant clemency on two complex murder cases, one a wife who murdered her abusive husband, the other a man who murdered his ill wife; and whether he will support his old college friend and current economic minister, Ugo Romani (Massimo Venturiello), to be his successor. Working in a more subdued, less baroque register than usual, Sorrentino delivers a thoughtful and moving meditation on ethics, anchored by a commanding, emotionally resonant performance from Servillo. –Todd Hitchcock