Parthenope review: gorgeous, alluring and challenging

If the rise of foreign language movies contending for Oscars and making headlines (Emilia Perez, I'm Still Here to name a couple) has you intrigued to give more movies with subtitles a chance, perhaps A24 and Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope is not the best place to start. I don’t mean that as a critique of the movie, which I found quite enchanting, but it is also a challenging watch that may frustrate those more accustomed to Hollywood’s style.

Sorrentino, whose The Great Beauty won an Oscar for (what at the time was) Best Foreign Film, wrote and directed Parthenope as a love letter to Naples, his hometown. The movie follows the life of Parthenope (Celeste Della Porta), a gorgeous woman named after the Greek colony that first settled the city. Over her life we see her experience love and heartbreak, life’s beauty and its ugliness as it appears in Naples.

This was actually only the second movie of Sorrentino’s that I have seen on the big screen, and the first since his English-language movie Youth from 2015. To me Sorrentino’s movies have always had an ethereal quality to them, which was never easy to fully appreciate when watching at home, with distractions more readily available, on a smaller screen, where the movie’s visuals and tone were harder to be taken in by. But watching Parthenope in the dark of a theater lured me in and transfixed me to the journey of this young woman, even if there are plenty of strange and what the f**k moments.

Part of what makes Parthenope so alluring is Della Porta. One of the main conceits of the movie is that Parthenope’s beauty is unlike anything many have seen, and sure enough Della Porta is a vision on the screen in her first starring role. Yet she is more than just a model of desire. Sorrentino and Della Porta collectively create a fascinating lead character, whose search for a greater understanding of life is one I was contently took part in.

If some were interested in Parthenope because of Gary Oldman appearing in the movie, you may be disappointed to learn that Oldman is present for just a few scenes. However, as American author John Cheevers, he delivers some key advice to a young Parthenope. But a positive for the movie is that we don’t miss Oldman’s presence as a number of memorable supporting characters enter and exit the movie, while Della Porta effectively keeps our interest.

A nod should also be given to composer Lele Marchitelli, who crafted a beautiful score, as well as cinematographer Daria D’Antonio for capturing stunning vistas of Naples. You could use Sorrentino’s movies as a tourist promotion for Italy, the visuals are that good, but there is always something deeper meaning behind the beauty that makes his movies rich in theme and discussion.

While there will be plenty of moments worth discussing and some extended examination, I was a bit disappointed that Sorrentino chose to be so on the nose in a couple of places. Part of the plot of the movie is Parthenope’s study of anthropology (the study of humans), which she continues outside of the classroom with her various experiences. Yet still she claims not to know what anthropology is, only for her professor (Silvio Orlando) to eventually give her (and the audience) a direct answer, in case we hadn’t picked it up yet. But there’s an even more blatant example involving the Miracle of San Gennaro that I won’t go into details on, but when that storyline concluded I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

Parthenope is likely not for everyone, as some could see it as a stereotypical example of foreign movies wanting to be seen as capital “A” art. For my part, I wouldn’t say that Parthenope is among the best foreign movies I’ve seen recently, but what it does have is an alluring quality that has made me gain a greater appreciation for Sorrentino’s work and wishing I had seen more of his movies on the big screen to see how that may have changed my experience.

Parthenope is now playing in limited US movie theaters, expanding to additional markets in the following weeks. The movie premieres in the UK on May 2.