fiction / 2018 / Italy / col. / 150 min.
What’s the strongest human desire? Love? Money? Sex? Limitless power? Is it possible to gain all of them without losing face? This grandiose and provocative dramedy stars Sorrentino’s frequent collaborator and actor Toni Servillo in the role of Silvio Berlusconi – the notorious billionaire, source of many scandals, media magnate and long-time Italian prime minister, who became famous mostly for his eccentric lifestyle and debauched parties. The film becomes a window into the privacy of this controversial personality and depicts chilling and oftentimes grotesque situations, including Berlusconi bribing judges, purchasing the best football players or seducing young models. It explores the people who flock to Berlusconi and the likes of him, and the cynical mechanism of power built on a complete loss of values, humiliation, egoism and opportunism.
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Screenplay: Paolo Sorrentino, Umberto Contarello
Photography: Luca Bigazzi
Editor: Cristiano Travaglioli
Music: Lele Marchitelli
Cast: Toni Servillo, Elena Sofia Ricci, Riccardo Scamarcio, Kasia Smutniak, Euridice Axen, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Roberto De Francesco, Dario Cantarelli, Anna Bonaiuto