I am into any kind of movie and I do find sorrentino to be hollow (no emotions but violent ones; composing sequences that are not natural at all and ridiculous sometimes, like the musical scene with the cows);
and he is pretentious for trying (and really failing) to be the new Fellini in "the great beauty"...
Now if anyone would explain why the maestro changed his mind about conducting for the Queen or why he was rubbing that candy wrap to the Queen´s men? Was he 14 years old? was that the point of the movie? A famed, talented maestro has the mindset of a 14 old boy?
I might be into something here.... :)
Just because it´s art, desn´t mean you can´t think about it in a rational way, IMO...
I think all of those things you mention were tied to revealing a specific truth about the character: that in spite of professing himself to be finished with and having no more interest in conducting/composing (and in a larger sense life itself) this was really a pretense or self-deception.
The candy wrapper was a recurring device that demonstrated he still heard musical rhythms in his head that demanded expression, even if only in that mundane form.
The scene where he "conducted" the countryside showed through his mind's eye how he perceived even the simple sounds of nature to be a symphony, and his continued desire to be an active part in shaping the musical order and structure of it. We saw that the conductor/composer in him was not dead but very much alive, even though he kept it a private secret unto himself.
Given that this is the truth of the character, OF COURSE he was ultimately going to change his mind and conduct his compositions for the Queen. Think back to what he and his daughter said to each other when they talked about how music had always been the only thing he really understood, and that for better or worse (actually for BOTH throughout his life) it was always more important to him than anything else, including his obligations to his family. Which, you'll note, is the very reason he cited for having initially refused the Queen's request: a duty to honor his disabled wife. But by the end when he talked to his wife in her hospital room he had come to the realization that she had always known this about him and had sought to help and support him in his musical pursuits, accepting his nature, and so he should do the same instead of wasting any more time pretending he was doing her or himself any good by hiding from it. The character spent most of the movie in RETREAT, both in terms of his physical location and emotional state, but came out of it at the end and back onto the stage—not merely the literal one where the performance was held, but the metaphorical stage of life. (Think of Shakespeare: "all the world's a stage...")
reply
share