All entries for Tuesday 11 November 2008

The consequences of Sorrentino's dazzling gaze

Title:

The Consequences Of Love [2004] [DVD]

ASIN:

B000ANVNJE

Rating:

The very first shot of Le conseguenze dell'amore (2004) encapsulates the essence of this peculiar film by the Italian film maker Paolo Sorrentino: a long, moving walkway in a minimalist corridor is caught from an angle that transforms the confined area into a futuristic tunnel. Sorrentino’s photographic eye fixes our gaze on this static shot for almost 2 minutes, before he immerses us in the tale of his Titta Di Girolamo. A strange name for a strange man, whose life is slowly unfolded in this fascinating film.

Di Girolamo lives in a hotel in an anonymous Swiss town, where he looks after a large sum of money that - as we eventually learn - belongs to a Southern Italian mafia boss. In fact, the puzzle pieces that make up this almost surreal story are given to us only one step at a time. The picture immerges of a lonely, sometimes even unpleasant man suffering from insomnia, though besides sleep, what Sorrentino’s phlegmatic character really lacks is some affection: the subtle shot of a masturbating Di Girolamo is enough to get the message. Furthermore, the man's rigid attachment to routine and habit keep him from expressing any of the feelings he seems to be harboring for a beautiful young waitress in the hotel. These problems are nothing however compared to the two gangsters he runs into in his hotel room, one day, and who eventually walk away with the suitcase De Girolamo has been faithfully safekeeping for his mafia boss. At this point Sorrentino moves up the speed: static, silent and melancholy at first, the movie is turned completely upside down as De Girolamo's phlegmatic, pessimist character is swapped for an almost absurd action hero that manages to retrieve the stolen money and eliminate the gangsters, though he does not reveal this to the 'rightful' owner, and pays the price. The suspense is kept on till the very end of the movie, which concludes with another one of those brilliant shots that give Sorrentino's films a different air.

This gangster plot is interwoven with a strange relationship between the taciturn De Girolamo and the waitress, one of those almost love affairs which characterize quality movies: not overloaded or tainted by any predictable love/sex-scenes, it remains in the air, sensible and profound at the same time. Yet this is not merely the story of a lonesome middle-aged man that learns to fall in love again, after a delusive marriage that has perhaps left him with bitter feelings towards the weaker sex. Sorrentino makes sure not to follow any existing patterns, the result of which is a jewel of a film, with some excellent performances and dazzling shots.

Andrea Hajek

Andrea Hajek : 11 Nov 2008 13:00 |  Tags: DVD Review |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem