THEMOVIES

Paolo Sorrentino and his longtime male muse Toni Servillo return to CIFF with a restrained, contemplative film about power and impermanence. Mariano de Santis (Servillo) masters the art of understatement, conveying sorrow, surprise, and gentle humor with the slightest movements of his mouth. Set against the backdrop of Rome, President Mariano de Santis approaches the end of his term with mixed emotions. Formerly a respected judge, he is assisted in his final months by his daughter Dorothea (Anna Ferzetti), a lawyer. Before him lie decisions of immense consequence: whether to sign landmark euthanasia legislation, whether to grant clemency to a woman who killed her husband, or to a man who ended his demented wife’s suffering. La Grazia explores the tension between public moral duty and private human desire. Mariano is also haunted by personal doubts—suspicions of his wife’s infidelity, and of whom. These contradictions unfold with Sorrentino’s characteristic wit and flair. An elegant film about power, grief, regret, and loneliness in old age, anchored by a luminous performance from Toni Servillo as Italy’s departing president.