The Consequences of Love

The Consequences of Love (2004) introduced Paolo Sorrentino internationally and began his long partnership with Toni Servillo. Anyone who loved The Great Beauty should start here. Titta di Girolamo has lived in the same Swiss hotel for eight years. The same room, the same hours, the same cigarettes. He speaks to nobody, nobody knows what he does, and he offers nothing. The first half of the film simply observes that routine, with almost nothing happening. Then something does happen, and the moment it does the film becomes an entirely different film. What that is stays here. Sorrentino's visual language is already fully formed: gliding camera, strange music choices, long holds on faces. Servillo barely speaks and carries the whole character in how he sits and walks. Good for: Italian cinema, films that start slow and turn hard, and anyone working through Sorrentino. Less good for: the first forty minutes demand patience and many people give up there. Do not. The film begins on the other side of that. Not one to start when you are tired.