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Il Divo

EMAILPRINTMPI Media Group

Il Divo reviews
81
6.7 User Score:

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)

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...

100

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.

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91

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.

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90

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.

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90

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.

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88

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.

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88

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.

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88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The film proceeds like a black comedy version of "The Godfather," crossed with Oliver Stone’s "Nixon."

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88

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.

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80

The New York Times Stephen Holden

As operatic cinema, it ranks alongside the best of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.

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80

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Consume with great caution, and with joy.

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80

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Il Divo plays like an elegantly ritualized black comedy.

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75

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.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

We see the tormented, limited and potentially dangerous man underneath.

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75

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.

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75

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Sorrentino is a spectacularly inventive talent and has harnessed an astounding performance from Servillo.

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75

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.

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67

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.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 16 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.

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