A24 knows sex sells, so it’s no surprise that the first U.S. trailer for Parthenope is full of seduction.
Newcomer Celeste Dalla Porta, playing the titular Parthenope, appears in various stages of undress throughout, emerging dripping from the sea in a bikini, draped in religious jewelry that barely covers her modesty, tangled up in what looks like a pre-threesome foreplay with co-stars Dario Aita and Daniele Rienzo.
It’s all sun, sea, and sex. Only one line, from Gary Oldman, playing a boozy John Cheever, to Parthenope: “Are you aware of the destruction your beauty causes?” suggests some darkness lurking beneath.
Parthenope
The film is Paolo Sorrentino’s love letter to Naples — his second, following 2021’s The Hand of God — and Parthenope, a mysterious, irresistible beauty, is the stand-in for the enigmatic pull the city has over him. It’s hard not to fall for the version seen on screen, brought to life in dazzling color and sticking compositions by cinematographer Daria D’Antonio, who also shot Hand of God, and with costumes designed by YSL creative director Anthony Vaccarello, one of the film’s producers.
A24 picked up North American rights to Parthenope ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a mixed review, praising Sorrentino’s sumptuous style but calling out a lack of narrative depth. “Sorrentino’s taste for extravagant imagery makes the director indulge his worst instincts, lapsing as he often has in the past into ersatz Fellini…[The film’s] visual flourishes are meant to distract us like shiny objects.”
A24 has yet to set a domestic release date for Pathenope. Plans to position it as an awards-season contender were disrupted when Italy snubbed Oscar-winner Sorrentino and chose Maura Delpero’s Venice Silver Lion winner Vermiglio as its entry for best international feature.
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English (US) ·