LA GRAZIA

The impeccable Toni Servillo plays the president of Italy, one Mariano De Santis (no relation), a man so stolid he is nicknamed “reinforced concrete.” As he approaches his later years, and the end of his political term, he is tormented by his late wife’s sexual betrayal, and the decisions to legalize euthanasia and issue pardons in two murder cases where mercy is merited. Director Paolo Sorrenti, while forever a master of the cinematic flourish, plunges his screen alter ego into a deeply philosophical moral crisis. The images are no less stylish for this more buttoned-down outing. Turns out this sober-faced bureaucrat is a hip-hop fan.