Jep Gambardella, a renowned Italian writer and journalist, finds himself in a deep crisis, a crisis with his self. He is narcissistic and misanthropic, and, in principle, he likes that way of being. Jep, played by Toni Servillo, opens up to tell us that at 65 he is still learning the elementary lessons of life. Without going any further, he realises that never having left Rome in his life has taken its toll on him. "Rome takes up your time, it's full of distractions". Rome is presented to us as the rival to beat. Rome does not treat its guests well. "Rome has disappointed me" says one of his friends. Jep begins to see Rome in a different light, it is a terrible host. It is in absolute decay. It will never be what it once was. The capital of the greatest empire the West has ever seen and the hegemonic city of the Renaissance, the seat of Catholicism and, practically, of Judeo-Christian culture. Now Rome is starting to decay and it hurts, it hurts those who live in it and those who glimpse it. Even so, she is unbeatable. No one can defeat her, and everyone continues to fall at her feet, surrendered by her beauty or overwhelmed by her grandiloquence. Impassive and strong, she maintains her beauty and transforms it into her best and only weapon. For Jep Gambardella, Roma is a mistress with whom he satisfies his carnal pleasures, brings him nothing else, and even wastes his time. He has forgotten his life and has postponed success throughout his career to serve Rome. His passivity and his love of the mundane have always led him down a very comfortable path, he always wanted to be the king of the mundane. He succeeded, but at the age of 65 he is beginning to question it. Perhaps it is never too late.
Hidden behind the orange sunsets of the Italian capital there is a person, complex like all the others, who, despite his age, continues to search for himself. He keeps looking for himself and for the beauty. As he himself says, "I have never managed to find the great beauty". And yet he has lived all his life in Rome.
I suppose he is like that fish that has never managed to find the water.
