Il Divo

Il Divo is the imagined story of Giulio Andreotti’s last decade in the public eye, beginning with his selection as prime minister for the last time in 1989 (he was prime minster seven times in the 1970s and 1980w) and ending with the start of his trial for being an associate of the Mafia in 1996. It skirts the boundary between fact and fiction by implying Andreotti’s guilt for a wide range of crimes, including several murders, of which he was accused but never formally convicted, and for the vast majority of the dialogue, much of it spoken in private conversations by Toni Servillo, who plays Andreotti.

This film is stunning, not so much as an account of political intrigue, though there is plenty of that, but as a portrait of the interior life of Andreotti. He is haunted throughout the film – literally – by Aldo Moro, a rival in the 1970s, in whose murder Andreotti was complicit. Servillo portrays Andreotti as utterly still, at the center of a world that is collapsing around him. The film is beautifully shot – scenes of a police escort moving in slow motion as Andreotti walks to church, a string of rapid-fire murders that rivals the climactic scene of The Godfather, Andreotti motionless while journalists clamor around him, drenching rain as his bodyguards try to open a car door – and the eclectic soundtrack (classical, opera, Italian and German pop, American alternative) serves to heighten the back-and-forth movement between realism and surrealism in the film. There is a gripping “confession” in which Andreotti sits alone in a darkened room and lists his crimes while justifying them. Even setting aside the compelling subject-matter, the film’s construction and execution are brilliant.

Certainly the best film I have seen this year. I’d love to hear Gio’s take on it.