Why we picked it – We showed Sorrentino’s film The Great Beauty in 2015. His next film, Parthenope, was terrible. This is a return to form.

Synopsis – The President of Italy, Mariano De Santis (Toni Servillo), is a staunch Catholic and a renowned jurist. He is hugely popular having saved the country from a demagogue (the circumstances are not fully explained. He begins his “white semester” – the last six months of an Italian president’s seven year term – during which he cannot dissolve parliament or call a new election. He spends his days handing out awards, and ruminating on his legacy and on the past (did his wife have an affair 40 years before, and if so, with whom?) as he prepares to leave office. Meanwhile his daughter, also a lawyer who works with him, is busily trying to get him to focus on the important decisions he must take before leaving office: whether to sign into law a bill legalizing euthanasia and to consider the pardon petitions of two individuals who murdered their partners. There is a sick horse too. The Colonel of the Cuirassiers Regiment, who are the Italian president’s honour guard, and a scabrous old friend are constant companions. Also a very groovy pope.

The film – This is a much quieter film than Sorrentino’s usual style. Italian presidents are perhaps better known for their outrageousness (Andreotti and Berlusconi) than the measured, thoughtful character of De Santis. The film’s shadows and grey tones are punctuated by unusual set pieces: an ancient Portuguese president’s slow-mo march across a ceremonial courtyard under a hailstorm, De Santis singing with a group of Alpini veterans and his surprising enthusiasm for hip-hop. The film’s title means “pardon”, but also refers to the moral or theological quality of grace. De Santis is wrestling with the dilemma between mercy and forgiveness, and his strong catholic faith. Unfortunately the pope is not much help.

Director and Writer: Paulo Sorrentino; Cinematography: Daria D’Antonio. Italy, 2025, 132 mins, 12A

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