A huge crowd at the Odeon for Sorrentino: «Grace speaks of feelings»

The meeting

The director presents “La Grazia” at the Vicenza cinema, a film inspired by a real case: President Mattarella’s granting of pardon to a man who had killed his sick wife

«Grace was born from a news story and becomes a film about power understood as moral responsibility». Paolo Sorrentino he tells it without ambiguity: «I had read in Repubblica that President Sergio Mattarella had granted it to a man who had killed his wife suffering from Alzheimer’s. It seemed like a great act of love to me.”

The inspiration: a real grace that becomes cinema

From this idea the idea of ​​takes shape a film centered on the figure of the President of the Republicthe only institutional entity that can grant the pardon: «And since the story was about a man who had killed his wife, I also gave Mariano De Santis a widowhood to create the contrasts necessary to move the film forward».

Director Paolo Sorrentino at the Odeon in Vicenza

He arrives in a packed Odeon shortly after 7pm last night greeted by great applause the Oscar-winning directorPaolo Sorrentino. Disheveled hair, blue windbreaker, beige jacket, jeans and that light-hearted look that has characterized him for years, immediately at ease with the director of the Odeon Enrico Ladisa who asks him a few questions before the screening.

«Mariano De Santis is not a mimetic portrait nor a direct reference to real figures». Sorrentino immediately clarifies this, distancing himself from his previous political films: «This is very different. Meanwhile, the protagonist is not a real character, but an invented one. And then it’s the opposite of the politicians I’ve talked about in past years”. If “Il Divo” and “Loro” staged politics as a form of representation and entertainment, “La Grazia” works by subtraction: «De Santis is a man who makes discretion, confidentiality and frugality his signature in the way he deals with politics and, above all, existence» continues the director.

A symbolic figure: the president as father

At the center of the film is not the role, but the man who embodies it: «I think the predominant trait is humanity. Behind this formal and institutional armor moves a man who is all too inhabited by feelingswhich tear him apart and put him in crisis.” In fact, De Santis is a figure crossed by doubt, called to decide without ever being able to hide behind the abstraction of the law. A vision which, the director admits, also coincides with a personal desire: «Here represents the type of politician I would like to have».

But even more than an institutional model, the director glimpses a symbolic figure: «He embodies a kind of family man. And who isn’t looking for a father? We are all looking for it, even those who have it”. The film openly addresses the issue of the end of life, without turning it into a manifesto, but without evading its implications. «Of course, if it were to help put the debate on the law back into play, I would be proud. I would like it very much” he clarifies. The film in this sense becomes a gesture that questions justice, faith, compassion and the limits of the norm.

Young people and politics: a false myth to dispel

Grace does not coincide with redemption, not even with salvation, but with a moment of disarmament. When asked about his relationship with the younger audience that is very present in theatres, the director responds with irony: «It’s inexplicable given that I feature people aged seventy and over». But then rejects the idea of ​​a generational disaffection towards politics: «It is a false myth that young people are not interested in politics. They do it in a new way, different from ours.”

Daria D’Antonio’s look from the set

On the role of music and the presence of Guè Pequeno, Sorrentino prefers silence: «We know he’s there, but we don’t tell about it, otherwise we’ll reveal everything». A choice consistent with a work that asks the viewer to arrive without maps. Finally, there is also a look from the set Daria D’Antonio in her third collaboration with the director: «Shooting with Paolo is always stimulating. Each film is new, different, while maintaining dear themes. And this in particular seems to me to be a necessary film. In this figure of a kind and sensitive politician there is an aspiration: that things can go in a different direction, through doubt, lightness and, why not, kindness.”

Sorrentino and the future: «Today’s politicians are not charismatic»

As for the future, Sorrentino seems to be closing the political chapter regarding his cinema: “It’s not that I don’t like current politicians, but I don’t think they’re charismatic enough to end up in a cinematic story.” Applause. In short, Grace remains a film that questions power not to unmask it, but to confront it with its most fragile and human side.

The inspiration: a real grace that becomes cinema
An invented president far from real politicians
Discretion, frugality and doubt: the heart of the protagonist
The desire for an “ideal politician” according to Sorrentino
A symbolic figure: the president as father
The issue of the end of life addressed without posters
Young people and politics: a false myth to dispel
The mystery of music and the role of Guè Pequeno
Daria D’Antonio’s look from the set
A necessary film: fragility as a form of power
Sorrentino and the future: “Today’s politicians are not charismatic”