Silvio Berlusconi, a leading figure on the Italian right, died on 12 June. His career was marked by a series of public and private scandals and by the school of thought that it gave rise to, “Berlusconism”. Many an Italian film has attempted to capture it since the 1990s.
One director in particular has distinguished himself in exploring the stigma left by Berlusconi on Italian society: Paolo Sorrentino. His 2018 film Loro (“Them”) is perhaps his most direct rendition of the sulphurous figure of the Cavaliere. However, the major themes associated with the right-wing leader are already broadly sketched out in La Grande Bellezza (Oscar for best foreign language film in 2014), which follows the existential upheaval of protagonist Jep Gambardella, a worldly and disillusioned sexagenarian who eventually regains his lust for life by delving into his past.
