This new film from Paolo Sorrentino is screening at the Picture House over the coming days. His earlier films have been really impressive with great style but also a heart at the centre. I found this film a little disappointing because it did seem to lack heart to a degree. However, the visual and aural quality is very fine and Sorrentino is clearly working with a very talented group of craft people.

Parthe [for short] is the central character and at her birth in 1950, in the wealthy suburb of Naples, she is christened after a mythical Greek siren. Legend has it that the original Parthenope drowned in the waters off Naples and gave her name to an early settlement there. So Parthe is a reflection of the city, birthplace of the director.

From her birth the movie cuts to 1968 when Parthe is eighteen and is part of a triangle of her older brother Raimondo and the son of the family housekeeper, Sandrino. As in The Great Beauty events in this period mark both Parthe and her family for years to come.

The movie follows Parthe’s career as a student of anthropology and then as an academic who specialises in the study of miracles. She briefly toys with becoming an actor but settles for University life. She also has a number of relationships and affairs. The theme of miracles in reflected in several episodes.

She leaves Naples in later life but this is covered by an ellipsis in the narrative and the movie ends back in Naples. The narrative is absorbing, the characters and setting are finely presented, as are the sets and costumes. It is a visual feast and the soundtrack of sound and music is also excellent. The cast are very good though the script does not develop all the characters sufficiently; Gary Oldman is wasted in a cameo. I found some scenes and/or dialogue humorous and witty.

The title is in colour, with black and white, and 2.39:1; with the dialogue, Italian, Neapolitan and English, translated in subtitles. It runs 147 minutes but did not seem overlong. The production was made on digital formats and mastered at 4K. The DCP is also in 4K which does proper justice to the cinematography and music. The screening on May 25^th at the Picture House is in auditorium one and the laser projector there will present the title to proper effect.