Divna Cpajak Student number 10849335! “La Grande Bellezza as an inquiry into Italianness” MA Thesis Comparative Literature Table of contents Introduction ......................................................................................................................3 La Grande Bellezza: What is an Italian Film? ...............................................................3 “Made in Italy”: Some Thoughts on National Identity ..................................................5 The Structure of the Analysis: Deconstructing “La Grande Bellezza”. ........................7 Chapter 1: Two cities. ........................................................................................................9 Into the Narrative of a City: Italy and Italianness. ........................................................9 Contrast: Two Visions of Rome ...................................................................................11 The Rome of Italians ................................................................................................11 The Rome of the Foreigners ....................................................................................12 Setting the Tone: a banal Rome ...............................................................................13 Chapter 2: A Character with an Old Premise in a New Story. ........................................16 Who is Jep Gambardella? ............................................................................................16 Flaubert´s F. Moureau ..................................................................................................16 Fellini's M. Rubini .......................................................................................................17 Italian Social Interactions ........................................................................................21 It´s just a trick but isn’t false ....................................................................................22 A Circular Discourse: The Parties as to the Turning Points. A Hidden Narrative .......24 Chapter 3. The Others and their Narrative Role. .............................................................30 Romano & Stefania: the Other Writers. ......................................................................30 The Women: Sparks of Meaning .................................................................................31 Ramona ....................................................................................................................32 La Santa ...................................................................................................................32 Chapter 4. The Construction of Italianness/Italianicity. ..................................................36 Another Rome, a hidden Rome ...................................................................................37 A reflection on Postmodernism ...................................................................................40 Aqueduct Artist ........................................................................................................41 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................46 !2 Introduction La Grande Bellezza: What is an Italian Film? La Grande Bellezza was written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. In terms of its awards, it is one of the most critically ac- claimed modern Italian films. These awards include: “Best Foreign Language Film” at the 86th Academy Awards, the 71st Golden Globe Awards, and the 67th British Acad- emy Film Awards. Moreover, according to Kimberli, the film was nominated for awards in several other categories at various film festivals, including for Best Cinematography (2014). However, reviews for the film were not solely positive. It was also regarded as a dense- ly packed, often astonishing cinematic feast that honours Rome in all its splendour and superficiality (Weissberg). Veltroni, a well-established Italian critic said “Maybe the Great Beauty should be content in being a bad movie (as it) is rather an unprecedented emotional experience” (2014). He claimed that “Sorrentino comes to terms with Rome, but badly”. The majority of negative critiques of the film have alleged claims of preten- tiousness, over-ambition, and fundamental of lacking artistic qualities. These negative reviews raised one of the main questions that led to the present study: Why did Sorrentino’s perception and projection of Italianness create such a division among the critics? Most of the reviews wandered around one main issue, the presenta- tion of a “concept of Italy”. Both positive and negative criteria indicated whether they approved or disapproved Sorrentino’s thesis on Rome. In the following paragraph, we will be searching for answers in two different dimen- sions of analysis. The first one will be ‘What the Rome of La Grande Belleza says to Italians?’ And the second will be the attempt to unveil ‘What this Rome says about Italy to non-Italian people?’ With that in mind, the next question is: What is the film about? The consensus among film critics is that the film presents a narrative about the wasted potential of the main !3 character and the search for redemption and meaning in his life. For example, Bergink concluded that “the film is concerned with happiness and the human condition” (2015). On the other hand, Klieman stated that “it highlights Rome’s breathtaking beautiful ar- chitecture, as well as its urban decay; it is also a portrait of all that is sacred and profane about the city” (2014). According to Jugernauth, “the film is a stunning account of the sheer variety of humanity” (2013), whereas Kohn said that “the film is more than a mere individual’s search for beauty, it is a portrayal of Italy as it exists today in the midst of political and economic crises” (2013). There are several points of views at the reception. It is undeniably curious about how the reviewer and the audience strive so hard to define a film that purposely eludes any definition. Although it is not clear what the film is about, it is obvious at first sight that it seems “Italian”, and that it operates within the Italian cultural sphere. Not because it is spoken in Italian language nor because of the history, the characters and the actors that embod- ied these histories are Italians, but because there are many cultural references that a non- Italian audience would probably see as exotic, and which an Italian audience would un- derstand and find familiar. Italian viewers who are already accustomed to the cultural climate in their own country are often repelled by the sensationalised exaggerations. Similar to the “Roma di cartolina” (direct translation: Postcard Rome), such exaggera- tions have a negative, “touristy” connotation. The film offers a stereotypical representa- tion of Italian culture, presenting Rome as a metaphorical place, with mythical elements (Caldwell). It seems accurate to say that what “Italy” represents for foreigners is not necessarily “Italian” for Italians (Forchielli). This is particularly interesting because, as will be dis- cussed further in the next paragraph, it is the first statement that Sorrentino presents in La Grande Bellezza. However, before the discussion of the narrative, it is imperative to define ‘Italianicity’. Roland Barthes in his “Rhetoric of the Image” said that, Italianicity is not Italy; it is the “condensed essence of everything that might be Italian, from spaghetti to painting” (qtd. in Demaria & Sassatelli 1). !4 Sassatelli and Demaria argue that “Italianicity or, as we prefer, Italianness, is an icon of what Italy and «things Italian» might be. A brand of Pasta, Panzani, was then used as a revealing icon open to aesthetic and commercial sensibilities. A person who has never been to Italy, dreams about going there and has a clear idea on what to expect there, such as arts, culture, foods fashion, holiday’s good weather, food, beauty, and pleasure. What is interesting about Italianness is that it answers to local and global fantasies on what Italy might be” (1). Indeed, it seems that La Grande Bellezza was able to provoke positive and negative fan- tasies in all spheres of the public: young and old, educated and uneducated, national and international; each one for different reasons. I feel that after watching the film, people will be forced to answer the most fundamental question of: Why is it so Italian? “Made in Italy”: Some Thoughts on National Identity Success in the international market of La Grande Bellezza is emblematic, in this sense, of the close relationship between the Italian identity and the “Made in Italy” label. This can also be understood as an American cultural construction – namely, a fragile identity, which is built for tourism, and clinging to an innate sense of aesthetic superiority that the foreign gaze grants (Minuz 35). The cult of “Made in Italy” comes into play here through the use of Italian cultural par- ticularities. Gastaldi argued that Sorrentino knows the content which American viewers desire from an Italian film for it to be successful (2014). Sorrentino combines these con- tents with absolute mastery by reinforcing a stereotype in contemporary Italian cinema and forcing the viewer to identify with a past epoch. However, before analysing how Italianness is fabricated in this film, it is important to consider the global cultural dominants which first of all create a frail ground