Parthenope was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered on 21 May 2024. It was theatrically released in Italy by PiperFilm on 24 October 2024. It has received mixed reviews from critics.
Premise
Named after the sunlit city of Parthenope (Naples), the smiling Parthenope recalls her childhood, in which her brother was obsessed with her. Her anthropology professor finds her a brilliant student. She considers becoming an actress, but is not inspired by her eccentric acting coach. She wonders about becoming an aesthete, and meets the drunken writer John Cheever, whose work she admires. Or perhaps she could have a romantic fling with the ugly bishop who attends the miracle of the dried blood that turns liquid each year, the phenomenon she is studying in anthropology.
Sorrentino described the film as being about a woman named Parthenope "who bears the name of her city but is neither siren", like the mythical figure of the same name, "nor myth".[3]
Parthenope was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 21 May 2024[7][8] and earned a nine-and-a-half minute standing ovation at the end of its screening.[9]
Prior to its Cannes premiere, A24 acquired North American distribution rights to the film.[10] In May 2024, the formation of a new Italian distribution and international sales company named PiperFilm was announced, with Netflix as its partner for the post-theatrical window and with agreement reached with Warner Bros. Entertainment Italia for operational theatrical distribution of its films. Parthenope was named to be PiperFilm's first acquisition, and was released on 24 October 2024.[4][11] The film is scheduled to be theatrically released on 12 March 2025 in France by Pathé,[12] which also handled international sales.[13] A24 has set a U.S. release for 7 February 2025.[14] The UK and Ireland theatrical release is scheduled for 2 May 2025 by Picturehouse Entertainment. [15]
Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 44% of 79 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.6/10.The website's consensus reads: "Equal parts sumptuous and vapid, Parthenope gains some radiance thanks to Celeste Dalla Porta's arresting performance but frustratingly finds writer-director Paolo Sorrentino out of his depth."[16]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 52 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[17]
The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw dismissed the film as being "facile" and "conceited", accusing Sorrentino of "pure self-parody" and likening the film to a long-form advertisement for expensive cologne.[18][19]Cineuropa's Davide Abbatescianni defines it as Sorrentino's "less accomplished feature film, technically impeccable but narratively weak," adding how Dalla Porta's character "is too cryptic," making the audience "struggle to understand her behaviour, her arrogance and audacity, and the many bombastic and didactic conversations she's part of."[20]
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