Cinecity 2025: La Grazia

DIR: PAOLO SORRENTINO. WITH: TONI SERVILLO, ANNA FERZETTI, ORLANDO CINQUE. ITALY 2025. 131 MINS.

Director Paolo Sorrentino (an Oscar-winner withThe Great Beauty in 2014) is reunited with actor Toni Servillo, as a fictional president reaching the end of his final term in office.

Widower and ex-judge, President Mariano De Santis reflects on his past as he grapples with the next chapter of his life. Mourning the loss of his wife, he lives a secluded existence within the grand presidential palace, assisted by his lawyer daughter Dorotea (Anna Ferzetti) who is frequently exasperated by the time it takes for him to make decisions. As the end of his presidency approaches, final duties and moral dilemmas become tangled with his private life.

Sorrentino’s stylish drama is full of visual flair, dry humour and his distinctive use of music. It is also a poignant meditation on ageing and ethics, anchored by Servillo’s central performance, awarded the Best Actor Prize at the recent Venice Film Festival.

‘it intrigues, it exhilarates and it shows that Sorrentino is Italian cinema’s heir to Antonioni.’ - Peter Bradshaw The Guardian