Director Paolo Sorrentino has always been fascinated by beauty and here he concentrates totally on the beauty of one woman - Parthenope - whose very appearance seems to have every man obsessed. She herself doesn’t like where this power leads her; rather than giving her freedom and enjoyment, her suitors want to own her or bring her sadness.
But has Sorrentino anything real to say? He ‘seems to assert that beauty is unappreciated until it vanishes’ - Emily Zemler, Observer - but in ‘Seeking freedom above all else in every facet of her existence, Parthenope escapes definition as a consequence, rendering the film a kind of modern myth of beauty incarnate—striking, seductive, and forever out of reach’ - Isaac Feldberg, RogerEbert.com.
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