The Consequences of Love was director Paolo Sorrentino’s breakout feature, receiving huge critical acclaim across the world. A mix of romance, thriller, psychological, mobster - the genre is inspired and blends together to make a beautiful movie.
The film follows the life of Titta Di Girolamo, played to perfection by Toni Servillo. Titta is an obscure man, a loner who spends his days in a solid routine which ends with him sitting in the bar of the hotel he lives in. The bar where Olivia Magnani’s Sofia works. A hard worker, she makes every effort to converse with Titta, but he simply ignores her.
The crux of the film is Titta’s mysterious lifestyle. He is a rich man, he pays his bills on time, yet his job remains a mystery. Looking out of a window, smoking a cigarette, Titta has his back turned to a crew of workers sifting through bagfuls of cash notes. This is everything we are given for the first act and it’s enticing.
The payoffs too are satisfying. Titta’s life begins to show itself when Sofia finally has her breakthrough with him. In a way, we portal in through Sofia - her original frustrations aimed at Titta are mirrored in our eagerness to know who he is and when she becomes a part of his life, everything becomes a lot less clouded.
The film oozes style and it’s a feast for the eyes. But it’s also a feast for the ears. Sorrentino’s choice of music is exquisite and The Consequences of Love sits very much in an underrated era of cinema; the early noughties. Dramatic and moving cinematography, funky pop tunes distorted over solemn imagery; a style born out of the turn of the century.
Sorrentino’s breakout is well deserving and encapsulates a lot of the strands of filmmaking he builds on in his next features. A beautiful movie stuffed with an abundance of stunning factors.
Score: 85/100