The Great Beauty - 2013 - 8/10
AKA - La Grande Bellezza

Visually striking film of the compromised soul.
Forty years previous, Jep wrote a well received book.
That was his entry to the high life, free pass to the In-Crowd.
He never wrote again, becoming a dilettante and coasting on his laurels.
Dizzying array of sybaritic pleasures, contrast with the sheer futility of living.
Point, all shall die. So why struggle to be heard, seen, appreciated?
Jep, the gracious, ever-smiling wastrel, is repeatedly paired against creative stragglers, or humans falling into despair, or the frail and elderly, coming face to face with the summation.
Tour de force, though overlong and not always enjoyable.