![]() We filmmakers exist for our ability to see.” “He is obsessed with the possibility of seeing. “ expresses the essence of my job, my profession,” Sorrentino says. Compared to the baroque exuberance of some of Sorrentino’s earlier films, The Hand of God has a calmer energy. The Schisas’ neighbours include a snooty family who fall victim to a memorable prank by Maria, and an ageing baroness (Betty Pedrazzi), who comes to play a surprising role in Fabietto’s development. Paolo’s father, like Saverio, worked in a bank, and the Sorrentinos were firmly middle class. Naples of the late 1980s is not a salubrious place, but it has a chaotic sense of community. Despite Saverio’s occasional infidelity, the Schisas are a happy family and the early scenes in The Hand of God are full of vivid, joyful tableaux of life with family and friends: boat outings, football games, long lunches under the pergola. There’s a cool older brother, Marchino (Marlon Joubert), and an unseen sister, who in a running gag is eternally in the bathroom. ![]() His mother Maria is played by Teresa Saponangelo and his father Saverio by Sorrentino’s longtime collaborator Toni Servillo, for once relegated to a supporting role. He is a thin, dreaming boy, in stonewashed jeans and short-sleeved shirts, who ambles the streets with headphones round his ears blaring English new wave. The Hand of God fictionalises the young Sorrentino as Fabietto Schisa, played by the newcomer Filippo Scotti. It is also his best film since his 2013 masterpiece, The Great Beauty. Unsurprisingly, it is easily Sorrentino’s most personal work, a coming-of-age tale in which a happy childhood in southern Italy gives way to tragedy. ![]() The Hand of God ( È Stata La Mano Di Dio) is a fictionalised retelling of Sorrentino’s adolescence in Naples, named for the Argentinian footballing genius who inadvertently saved his life. It is only now, at 51, two decades into a career that has brought him an embarrassment of acclaim and every award you’ve heard of – an Oscar, Baftas, Golden Globes, the Cannes Jury Award, lots of money from Netflix – as well as plenty you haven’t, that Italy’s greatest living director has tackled the cataclysm that defined his life. In all likelihood, he would have breathed in the carbon monoxide leaking from a faulty heater, like they did, and died, like they did, a month before his 17th birthday. If Napoli FC had not signed Diego Maradona, and Paolo Sorrentino had not been offered tickets for an away game at Empoli, he would have spent the night of 5 April 1987 with his parents at their ski house in the Apennine mountains. ![]()
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