- Gary Oldman, Stefania Sandrelli, Silvio Orlando
- May 2nd 2025
- 137
- Paolo Sorrentino
Paolo Sorrentino’s coming-of-age drama tells the story of an undeniably beautiful young woman named Parthenope.
Italian writer-director Paolo Sorrentino – known for films like Youth, The Great Beauty and The Hand of God – returns to our screens with his latest offering, Parthenope.
In this coming-of-age drama, we follow the titular character Parthenope (Celeste Dalla Porta), an undeniably beautiful young woman as she tries to find love, purpose and happiness in her life.
The film is split into several sections, from her birth in 1950, to her 18th birthday in 1968, and her retirement in 2023 (with a few chapters in between).
Parthenope’s biggest downfall is that we never truly understand our mysterious title character. We witness lots of encounters and events in her life but never really know what she thinks about them.
Because Sorrentino never lets us get under her skin, she feels hollow and out of reach, making it hard to invest in her journey and the film as a whole.
We get small windows into her mindset in some of the later chapters but it’s a case of too little too late.
Parthenope is two hours and 15 minutes long, which is a significant runtime considering there isn’t much of a plot.
We just follow our lead as she is pursued by various men, studies for her anthropology degree, explores acting, meets a bunch of eclectic characters and takes part in some truly bizarre experiences.
There are plenty of scenes that could have been cut without affecting the story, particularly some of the more off-kilter and uncomfortable ones.
There are some baffling moments that make no sense within the context of the film and it was hard to see how they served the story.
While it was nice to see Gary Oldman pop up briefly as alcoholic writer John Cheever, one of Parthenope’s platonic encounters, he’s so underused that you have to wonder why he signed up for the role at all.
One of the saving graces, story-wise, is Parthenope’s pursuit of an academic career in anthropology.
It’s one of the more consistent elements of her story and the evolution of her professional bond with her stuffy and severe teacher, Professor Marotta (Silvio Orlando), is satisfying to watch.
Like its title character, Parthenope is also gorgeous to look at, with stunning cinematography and Italian landscapes that are typical of Sorrentino’s work.
Newcomer Dalla Porta is a captivating presence and does well with what’s given but she can’t make up for the fact that her character is unknowable, poorly written and lacking in emotional depth.
In cinemas from Friday 2nd May.
By Hannah Wales.
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