La Grazia, review of Sorrentino’s film which is still in cinemas until January 1st only in the morning. Story of a President of the Republic and his daughter who manages to undermine his principles

Gracereview of Paolo Sorrentino’s film: a human exploration of a President of the Republic, divided between moral dilemmas and his own prejudices

The exercise of doubt is one of the qualities, albeit little frequented, that we should instead pursue more. Not only in politics, but also in everyday life, because perhaps we have too many presumed certainties. Paolo Sorrentino with his cinema does not want to teach us something, rather he tries to provoke an emotional, personal, even universal reaction, but without ever the narrative arrogance of elevating himself to be better than others.

Gracehis latest work – in competition at the 2025 Venice Film Festival which will be released in cinemas on 15 January 2026 distributed by PiperFilm – from last 25 December until 1 January 2026 is shown in selected theaters only in the morning to show us a Sorrentino who is as usual ironic, inventive, more sober, but no less effective in conveying his characters and the story he wants to tell us now.

Grace, movie review

On the opening titles we see the Frecce Tricolori passing in the sky, scrolling through passages of the art. 87 of the Constitution, well known, as “The President of the Republic is the Head of State and represents national unity”. It is the intro of the story, to introduce the protagonist, an imaginary (everyone will find elements of the real, past and current) President of the Italian Republic (played by Toni Servilloseventh collaboration with Sorrentino), who is living the last days of his mandate at the Quirinale, and in which he necessarily has to make extremely important decisions.

The man, Mariano De Santis, lives and looks at the present with responsibility, but also wrapped-overwhelmed by a profound nostalgia, represented by the disappearance of his beloved wife Aurora. He smokes (now very little), is a rigorous, habitual, almost boring character, and next to him, around him, beyond secretaries, officials, rituals, institutional appointments, there is above all his daughter Dorotea (Anna Ferzetti), a jurist like him, who has dedicated herself entirely to following his path, to sacrificing herself, even called upon to control his diet (an old friend of his, an art critic, invited to dinner in a funny scene, calls it “a dinner hypothesis”), clashing and comparing on multiple fronts.

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