In Sorrentino’s latest we follow Mariano de Santis who has been the president of Italy for a long time and has a half year left in his last term. He has always taken the save route and steered the country through several crisises. For his last year he has a few ‘headache cases’ left.
It is not the first time that Sorrentino has old people looking back at their lives. De Santis never got over the death of his wife with whom he had been together for 40 years. He mourns her every day.
Being a jurist himself, De Santis has his daughter as the main jurist in his administration and she is both his professional and personal mirror. De Santis also has a few close friends with whom he goes back many years and which whom he shares his doubts and reflections. One of these old friends is the Pope, here portrayed as a black man with grey dreadlocks; also something not uncommon for Sorrentino.
It is all there. Deep emotions, modern music that is not entirely out of place, subtle jokes, beautiful women, drama and existential questions. “Grace” is again a good Sorrentino.
