Psycho. #59

Hi Caspar, I recently watched Parthenope, and enjoyed it much more than I expected, given the tepid reviews and having found The Hand of God a bit of a slog. As the film cycled through Sorrentino's thematic greatest hits – youth/beauty/the sacred/the profane etc. – I did wonder: is there any there, there? Could someone be a hack and a genius at the same time? I rolled my eyes when Parthenope was, seemingly inevitably, seduced by a sleazy bishop – or was it the other way round? – but damn if that scene wasn't amazing; I nearly lost my mind when Wojciech Kilar's “Exodus” dropped on the soundtrack. The scene seems to call attention to its own ridiculousness ("I look like a reliquary") while being totally committed at the same time. Help me to understand: what's the deal with Sorrentino?

Is there any there, there? That’s the main question, I think – but you also ask, “Could someone be a hack and a genius at the same time?”, which I think is a different question, or perhaps a question of another order. I think that ultimately Sorrentino is a hack, and there isn’t much at all of substance in his films, but I do know what you mean about him: that sometimes, it seems that something seems to catch alight; a scene just works somehow, and God only knows to what extent that is intentional.