(3 Mar 2014) WRITER RAFFAELE LA CAPRIA, THE MUSE OF OSCAR WINNER PAOLO SORRENTINO, ON HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH THE FILM DIRECTOR
Neapolitan writer Raffaele La Capria, the hidden muse of the Oscar winning Paolo Sorrentino, talks about his friendship with the film director and about how Rome has changed since the Fellini era.
La Capria is considered one of the most important post-war writers in Italy and one of the most prominent to come from Naples, the hometown of Sorrentino.
The writer told AP about his long-lasting friendship with Sorrentino, who also tried to make a movie out of his bestselling novel "Ferito a morte" (Mortally wounded).
La Capria was at the epicenter of Roman cultural life in the 50's and 60's, during the economic boom when Hollywood stars moved for months in the Cinecitta' studios, crowding the bars and restaurants of via Veneteo. The street of the Dolce Vita.
Italian journalists found a great similarity between La Capria and Jep Gamabrdella, the main character of the movie: both writers, both from Naples, both swimmers and sea lovers. But the real writer does not see a great affinity between the two, probably because Jep was living a lavish life and did not write anymore books after his first success, while La Capria kept on writing and married the famous Italian actress Ilaria Occhini.
But at the same time, La Capria admits a great closeness in the way he and Sorrentino write.
"There is no clear plot in our writings," explained La Capria, "the connection among the event is not obvious, in my book ("Ferito a morte", one of Sorrentino's favorites) the reader had to reconstruct a bit the stages and reconnect them. The same happens in Sorrentino's movie. There are in the end many narrative analogies, that can lead to think my name can be associated to Sorrentino."
La Capria, despite his 92 years, still has a great capacity for describing Italian society and made an accurate comparison between the Rome of the "Dolce Vita" and the Rome of "The Great Beauty."
"The general structure of the movie in some ways follows that of Fellini's," explained La Capria, "but the movies of Fellini were portraying a happy era of success. While the situation described by Sorrentino is like a deteriorated Fellini. You don't find anymore that happiness redeemed by the images that was present in Fellini's movies."
Italy celebrated Monday after "The Great Beauty" ended the country's 15-year hiatus and won the Oscar for best foreign-language film, though culture buffs continued to fret over budget cuts to a national film industry that has won more foreign Oscars than any other.
Italians hailed Paolo Sorrentino's homage to Federico Fellini and Rome's seductive decadence as a win for a country struggling through its own economic and even existential crisis.
"At this time we have to be thinking about other things, and we're doing so," Premier Matteo Renzi tweeted. "But everyone is part of this Italian moment of pride for Sorrentino and 'The Great Beauty.'"
The film focuses on the life of Jep Gambardella, played by Toni Servillo, who on the occasion of his 65th birthday reflects on how his talents have been paralyzed by Rome's beauty and his ambition to be at the center of the high life.
The film can be seen as a microcosm of Italy's current malaise and some call it a modern-day reinterpretation of Fellini's "La Dolce Vita."
President Giorgio Napolitano said it evoked the "great tradition of Italian film together with a new capacity for creative storytelling for today's reality."
"We have to prevent this," he said.
Sorrentino said the music brought out Rome's inherent contradictions.
Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.c...
Twitter: / ap_archive
Facebook: / aparchives
Instagram: / apnews
You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.c...
Негізгі бет Writer Raffaele La Capria, the muse of Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino, on his friendship with the fil
Пікірлер