Sorrentino’s La Grazia praised

Paolo Sorrentino’s La grazia opened the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on Aug. 27, 2025 and received a reported six-and-a-half-minute standing ovation at its premiere. (deadline.com)) Toni Servillo plays President Mariano De Santis and multiple critics have singled out Servillo’s restrained, quietly commanding performance as the film’s emotional center. (hollywoodreporter.com)) Italian rapper Guè Pequeno appears as himself in the film, and reviewers have pointed to a soundtrack that mixes electronic textures, classical cues and hip‑hop interventions as a distinctive element of Sorrentino’s approach. (billboard.it)) The plot follows a widowed head of state weighing whether to sign a bill legalizing euthanasia and whether to grant clemency to two prisoners, dilemmas that drive the film’s moral and political conflicts. (deadline.com)) La grazia premiered at Venice on Aug. 27, 2025, opened in Italian cinemas on Jan. 15, 2026, and has a reported worldwide box office of about $3.2 million while being listed on MUBI for streaming. (en.wikipedia.org)) Critics have emphasized Sorrentino’s unusually subdued, sober directing in La grazia—a tonal shift noted in reviews from Variety and Sight & Sound—while some outlets offered more mixed takes on whether the restraint fully succeeds. (variety.com))