La Grazia

Oscar-winning filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty) returns to the baroque world of Italian presidential politics, crafting an elegantly restrained portrait of a fictional ruler (Toni Servillo, who won the Best Actor Award at the 2025 Venice Film Festival) reckoning with age, power, and moral obligation as his term comes to a close. La Grazia centers around fictional Presidente Mariano De Santis (Servillo), whose term is nearly up.  Disparagingly nicknamed “Cemento armato” (reinforced concrete) for his intractable nature and overly careful approach to politics, he has grown lonely in the echoing halls of the presidential palace, mourning the loss of his wife and listening to hip-hop. Before returning to civilian life, De Santis must make a series of bold decisions – a pair of presidential pardons and a groundbreaking policy bill – that will seal his legacy. Sorrentino’s moving, meditative film does the unexpected for our moment, infusing a tale of government affairs with a refreshing dose of humanity and feeling. (Dir. by Paolo Sorrentino, 2025, Italy, in Italian with English subtitles, 133 mins., Not Rated)