Parthenope, directed by Oscar-winning Paolo Sorrentino, will have its world premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
The film, in Sorrentino's words, narrates the long journey of Parthenope's life, from her birth in 1950 to the present day. An epic of femininity without heroism, but filled with an inexorable passion for freedom, for Naples, and the unpredictable faces of love. The real, the futile, and the unspeakable ones, which condemn you to pain. And then make you start over. The perfect summer in Capri, in youth, wrapped in carefreeness. And the ambush of the end. Youth have this in common: their brevity.
And then all the others, the Neapolitans, lived, observed, loved, men and women, disillusioned and vital, their melancholic drifts, tragic ironies, somewhat downcast eyes, impatience, the loss of hope to laugh once more at a distinguished man who stumbles and falls in a downtown street. Life can be very long, memorable or ordinary. The passage of time offers a whole repertoire of feelings. And there, in the distance, close and far, this indefinable city, Naples, that bewitches, enchants, screams, laughs, and then knows how to hurt you.
In the cast, in alphabetical order, Dario Aita, Celeste Dalla Porta, Silvia Degrandi, Isabella Ferrari, Lorenzo Gleijeses, Biagio Izzo, Marlon Joubert, Peppe Lanzetta, Nello Mascia, Gary Oldman, Silvio Orlando, Luisa Ranieri, Daniele Rienzo, Stefania Sandrelli, and Alfonso Santagata.
The film, shot between Naples and Capri, is an Italy-France co-production. Written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino, it is a Fremantle film produced by Lorenzo Mieli for The Apartment Pictures, a company of the Fremantle group, Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent, Paolo Sorrentino for Numero 10 and Ardavan Safaee for Pathé.
The director of photography is Daria D'Antonio, the Costume Artistic Director is Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent, the costume designer is Carlo Poggioli, the editor is Cristiano Travaglioli, the set designer is Carmine Guarino, casting by Annamaria Sambucco and Massimo Appolloni. International sales will be handled by Fremantle.