Paolo Sorrentino is reputed for his dazzling aesthetics, whether the viewer is participating in an all-out orgy with Berlusconi in Loro DATE or riding shotgun along the Neapolitan seaside in (é stata la mano de dio) The Hand of God 2021. However, it is possible that such imagery takes away from the central meanings of his film, something that really comes into play upon another watch. After winning the 2013 Oscar for Best Foreign Film, Sorrentino received critical acclaim for La Grande Bellezza, whose epigrammatic title translating to ‘The Great Beauty’ summarises the aesthetic pleasure w...