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Il Divo
Universal acclaim
Based on 17 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 15 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Paolo Sorrentino
Directed by: Paolo Sorrentino
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 24, 2009
DVD: October 27, 2009
Running Time: 110 minutes, Color
Origin: Italy | France
Language(s): Italian | English
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Anna Bonaiuto, Toni Servillo, Piera Degli Esposti, and Giulio Bosetti
In Rome, at dawn, when everyone is sleeping, one man is awake. That man is Giulio Andreotti. He's awake because he has to work, write books, move in fashionable circles and, last but not least, pray. Calm, crafty and inscrutable, Andreotti is synonym of power in Italy for over four decades. At the beginning of the Nineties, this impassive yet insinuating, ambiguous yet reassuring figure appears set to assume his seventh mandate as Prime Minister without arrogance and without humility. Approaching seventy, Andreotti is a gerontocrat who, with all the attributes of God, is afraid of no one and does not know the meaning of awe, since he is accustomed to seeing it stamped on the faces of all his interlocutors. His satisfaction is muted, impalpable. For him, satisfaction is power, with which he has a symbiotic relationship. Power the way he likes it. Unwavering and immutable, from the outset. He emerges unscathed from everything: electoral battles, terrorist massacres, slanderous accusations. He is untouched by it all, unchanging. Until the strongest counter power in Italy, the Mafia, declares war on him. Then things change. Perhaps even for the enigmatic, immortal Andreotti. But the question is: do they really change or only appear to? We can be sure of one thing: it is difficult to tarnish Andreotti, the man who knows the ways of the world better than any of us. (Music Box Films)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Variety Jay Weissberg
An intensely political film so wildly inventive and witty that it will become a touchstone for years to come, Il Divo is a masterpiece for maverick helmer-scribe Paolo Sorrentino.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
You need know nothing about Italian politics to completely enjoy the fantastical, Fellini-fied, tragi-comic, biographical fun-for-all Il Divo.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Simultaneously exhilarating and confounding, dazzling and confusing, this is filmmaking of such verve and style that you likely won't care that you can't follow it completely.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Peter Brunette
The frequently outrageous Il Divo follows the career of one of the best-known and most tenacious figures in Italian political history in a lively, sensory-overload, cartoonlike fashion reminiscent of "Amelie" and "Moulin Rouge." The fact that it's often over-the-top goes with saying, and is part of the fun.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
The highly stylized, often outrageously funny biopic is anchored by a devastating performance by Toni Servillo as Andreotti, brilliantly capturing the gnomic politician's trademark slouch and inexpressive face.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
All in all, this phenomenal film illustrates Alexis de Tocqueville's observation that "The people get the government they deserve." In both meanings of the word, Il Divo is sensational.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The film proceeds like a black comedy version of "The Godfather," crossed with Oliver Stone’s "Nixon."
Read Full Review >St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams
Anyone suggesting that an Italian film could rival the style and grandeur of "The Godfather" might end up sleeping with the fishes. But Il Divo delivers.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
As operatic cinema, it ranks alongside the best of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ella Taylor
Il Divo plays like an elegantly ritualized black comedy.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Fortunately, there's always the fascination of watching actor Toni Servillo, who does a brilliant job of playing Andreotti (known as Beelzebub) as a kind of devil with a clown's exterior.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
We see the tormented, limited and potentially dangerous man underneath.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Il Divo is showboat moviemaking, but the opulence is of a piece with the film's damning assessment of the durable Italian elder statesman Giulio Andreotti.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Sorrentino is a spectacularly inventive talent and has harnessed an astounding performance from Servillo.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Instead of a modern classic, able to travel the globe with ease, Il Divo is merely a wonderfully cast, tonally assured achievement, with a uniquely strange tour de force at its core.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Through Sorrentino's lens, Andreotti's chief lieutenants are made to look like Reservoir Dogs, with Andreotti as a calm, tight-lipped, upper-crust analog to Lawrence Tierney.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Twinkles M. gave it a2:
Sorrentino's glossy style seems totally inappropriate for such a purely political story, giving us endless zooms and stale Scorsese montages in place of character or insight or plot. After an hour of gazing at Toni Servillo's totally inexpressive face ; an endless stream of cryptic, gnomic remarks and a continuous stream of faceless bureacrats, maintaining interest in the 'story' becomes nigh impossible. Disappointing.
john s gave it a1:
Unbelievably boring movie. i like artistic foreign films, i even like political dramas but this was a complete waist of time. there are literally 3 dozen obscure characters that one must follow and none of them are the least bit interesting. do yourself a favor and skip it.
Novak. G. gave it a9:
Brilliant, brave, modern, wise, elegant, even better from Gomorra!
Josh B gave it a7:
The filmmaking is really very good, but it can be confusing and hard to follow sometimes if you're not familiar with Italian political history (which, no offense, you probably aren't).
DWilly gave it a4:
Now, maybe I was only as lost as your average Italian felt watching Oliver Stone's "Nixon" (no one should have to watch his "W."), but as far as I could tell "Il Divo" had no plot. Plot isn't everything, of course, and this movie does have style and sumptuousness for days, but come on, you gotta throw me a little human value of some kind, and not just this parade of caricatures (there was even a guy in an obvious fat suit). Like a fine Italian shoe with no soul. No thanks.
Kent P gave it a10:
Great fun. Smashing editing, scoring and cinematography and an incredible performance from Servillo.
