Paolo Sorrentino is arguably the most important Italian filmmaker nowadays. Critics like to compare him to Federico Fellini. “I’m not trying to be Fellini”, Sorentino says. “Maybe [the reference is made] because he was the greatest exponent of combining drama and comedy – but even Antonioni had a dark seam of irony running through his work. For me, it goes back to long-held Italian traditions where even in the lightest comedy there is some serious element, and in the darkest drama there is some comedy.”
Sorrentino was born in Naples, the third-largest city of Italy, in 1970. He lost his parents at the young age of 16; after a few years studying economics at University of Naples Federico II, he decided to become a filmmaker. Sorrentino made a successful feature film debut, the comedy-drama One Man Up, in the 2001. Since then, he’s made many brilliant movies, receiving nominations at numerous festivals and awards ceremonies, and winning an Oscar for The Great Beauty; he most recently earned an Oscar nomination for The Hand of God. Let’s look at the best movies from Sorrentino, ranked.
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7 ll divo
Indigo Film
The 2008 Cannes Film Festival-winning and Oscar-nominated political drama ll Divo can be hard for non-native Italians to understand, due to its national political content, but this movie is a real masterpiece. Variety even noted that ll Divo “will become a touchstone for years to come.” Paolo Sorrentino made the brave, witty, and highly stylized biopic with a significant soundtrack and a nomination for the Oscar for Best Makeup. The film follows a seven-time Prime Minister of Italy Giulio Andreotti, and is his political career, including his seventh election and a judicial investigation into corruption in the 1990s. Toni Servillo, one of the greatest actors of the 21st century, played the leading role.
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6 The Consequences of Love
Sorrentino’s 2004 psychological thriller The Consequences of Love tells the story of a lonely man called Titta (played by Toni Servillo, in another of his several frequent collaborations with the director), who has been living in a hotel for eight years. His boring life changes after he develops feelings for a young barmaid. The film features the brilliant camera work, superb cast, wonderful style, and unique storytelling that has come to define the director’s career. Sorrentino made The Consequences of Love at just 34, the film was a critical hit.
5 This Must Be the Place
This Must Be the Place stars a brilliant combination of actors, with one of the best Sean Penn movie performances and a charming Frances McDormand, and centers on retired rock star Cheyenne, who wants to reconcile with his father. Unfortunately, he arrives too late, and sets out across America to understand his father better and find the man’s tormentor during World War 2, an SS Nazi.
As far as I’m concerned," Sorrentino told IFTN, “every film has to be an unrelenting hunt for the unknown and for mystery. Not so much to find the answer, but to keep the question alive. During the genesis of this movie, one of the many questions that never left me concerned the secret, mysterious life that former Nazi criminals are forced to live in some part of the world.” There are some incredible needle drops in the film, which is appropriate as it’s named after a Talking Heads song (and even features Talking Heads leader David Byrne in a beautiful scene).
4 The Young Pope and The New Pope
Wildside
Although some Catholics describe Sorrentino’s television series as caricatured and anti-religious, both critics and audiences positively received The Young Pope and its continuation The New Pope. The Observer wrote, “The Young Pope is the best, weirdest show of the decade.” The two TV shows star an incredible Jude Law as the freshly elected pontiff, Pius XIII, who disrupts the Vatican and may either be a holy saint or an atheistic trickster. Sorrentino made visually stunning, thought-provoking, and remarkable series. He proved that masterpieces could be shown not only on the big screen, but on the small screen as well, creating one of the best HBO series available in the process.
3 Youth
Indigo Film
The 2015 comedy-drama Youth is a philosophical and beautiful tale of loneliness, aging, and life in general. In the film, Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel portray two old best friends who contemplate their past, present, and future in a luxury Swiss hotel. Paolo Sorrentino opened up to Indie Wire about Youth, saying, “The most important theme in my mind was about aging, about how two older people can answer the question, ‘What’s my future?’ This was the obsessive question that I had in my mind. Through this movie I tried to find out an answer.”
2 The Hand of God
Netflix
Paolo Sorrentino’s 2021 semi-autobiographical drama The Hand of God follows a teenager Fabietto (played by Filippo Scotti) who becomes an adult after unexpected tragedy. The film also has a lot of joyful moments, such as beautiful scenes with family and instances with Diego Maradona, Fabietto’s idol. Sorrentino returned to Naples, his hometown, to tell the story of young dreamer who grew up to be the famous director. It is a heartbreaking, beautifully well shot, and emotional masterpiece.
1 The Great Beauty
The Great Beauty won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, and is definitely one of the 21st Century’s greatest film. This Paolo Sorrentino’s 2013 drama centers on a 65-year-old Jep Gambardella (played by Toni Servillo), author of one and only successful novel. After thinking about his first love, Jep begins sad reinterpretation of his past and wonts to find a beauty in Rome and in his life. “Very much Sorrentino’s modern take on the themes of Fellini’s La dolce vita, emphasizing the emptiness of society amusements, Great Beauty will surprise, perplex and bewitch highbrow audiences yearning for big cinematic feasts”, Variety summarized.
