Mubi has set a Dec. 5 U.S. and Canada theatrical release for Paolo Sorrentino‘s La Grazia. The news comes in the wake of the pic receiving a 6 1/2 minute standing ovation on the first night of the Venice Film Festival.
In the movie, Mariano De Santis is the President of the Italian Republic. No connection to any real-life presidents; he is entirely a product of the author’s imagination. A widower and a Catholic, he has a daughter, Dorotea, a legal scholar like himself. As his term draws to a close, amid uneventful days, two final duties arise: deciding on two delicate petitions for a presidential pardon. True moral dilemmas, which become tangled, in ways that seem impossible to unravel, with his private life. Driven by doubt, he will have to decide. And, with a deep sense of responsibility, that is exactly what this remarkable Italian President will do. The pic stars Toni Servillo and Anna Ferzetti. The movie is a produced by Fremantle’s The Apartment in association with Numero 10 and PiperFilm.
Producers are Annamaria Morelli and Sorrentino, as well as Andrea Scrosati for Fremantle, and Massimiliano Orfei, Luisa Borella, and Davide Novelli for PiperFilm.
Sorrentino wrote and directed the movie. Mubi acquired global on the pic back in February.
Sorrentino’s 2013 movie The Great Beauty won an Oscar for Best International Feature Film, while his 2021 movie, Hand of God, inspired by his life, was nominated for an Oscar in the same category.