Stoffentwicklung:
Paolo SorrentinoRegie:
Paolo SorrentinoKamera:
Luca BigazziMusik:
Lele MarchitelliBesetzung:
Jude Law, Diane Keaton, Silvio Orlando, Javier Cámara, Scott Shepherd, Cécile de France, Ludivine Sagnier, Toni Bertorelli, James Cromwell (mehr)Streaming (2)
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From Paolo Sorrentino, director of the Academy Award®-winning film 'The Great Beauty,' 'The Young Pope' tells the controversial story of the beginning of Pius XIII's pontificate. Born Lenny Belardo, he is a complex and conflicted character, so conservative in his choices as to border on obscurantism, yet full of compassion towards the weak and poor. The first American pope, Pius XIII is a man of great power who is stubbornly resistant to the Vatican courtiers, unconcerned with the implications to his authority. The ten-episode series stars two-time Academy Award® nominee Jude Law as Pius XIII, and Academy Award® winner Diane Keaton as Sister Mary, a nun from the U.S. now living in Vatican City. (HBO Europe)
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Sorrentino’s work has always been somewhat off my radar, but I had to check out The Young Pope due to the overwhelmingly positive reviews, especially the praise for Jude Law. First, I must point out that this series is not aimed at the average mainstream audience; its style defies all conventional standards. The artiness of it occasionally annoyed me, but thanks to HIM, I was able to enjoy the final product. Jude Law truly shines in every direction. He managed to turn even the initially uninteresting scenes into memorable moments. The audiovisual quality surpasses most of the existing TV competition, whether it’s the clever camera work or the perfect visual composition (e.g., the opening credits). Unfortunately, what holds me back from a higher rating is the need for better narrative cohesion (some subplot lines felt superfluous) and perhaps a bit more build-up towards the end. However, I definitely won’t miss the sequel with John Malkovich in the future, that’s for sure :D For me, it’s 7.5/10.
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Eine große Enttäuschung, vor allem in Anbetracht der an die vorigen Teile gestellten Erwartungen. Die entfesselte sowie unvorhersehbare erste Hälfte stellt eine Freude für das Geistige sowie Bodenständige in uns dar. Außerdem fungiert Law wie ein Reizsubjekt, das sich nie so verhält, wie wir es gerne hätten. Sorrentino hat sich hier an die Tage erinnert, als er eben nicht Großmeister des flachen Populismus war, sondern sich mit seinem Bild und Ton ganz grundlegende existenzielle Konzepte zu erobern wusste. Der Vatikan avanciert somit zu seinem nächsten Terrarium voller fauler menschlicher Reptilien, die sich auf die vergebliche Suche dem Sinn des Lebens befinden - und in dieser Hinsicht stellt The Young Pope endlich eine lebensfähige Substanz dar. Doch dann folgt hier die zweite Hälfte, insbesondere einige Parts der Teile 6-10. Was spontan war, wird hier starr. Was imaginativ anmutete, wirkt hier wie ein Zufall. Ambivalenz geht in Wortwörtlichkeit, Provokativität wiederum in Ursprünglichkeit über. Aus dem Charakter des Papstes wird ein trivialer "unverständlicher Heiliger". Sorrentino wirkt flüchtig, wagt es alberne Drehbuch-Fehltritte (der Fall mit den Briefen auf dem Tisch? Was soll den das?), verwendet die Musik manchmal ausgesprochen demonstrativ (Kalinka? Come on!) und anstelle eines surrealen Kängurus watet durch die vatikanischen Gärten eine an die Filme des Tschechischen Komödienregisseurs Troška erinnernde Figur der heiligen Juana. Den letzten Punkt stellt leider das Paolo-Modell der Ewigen Jugend dar. Aufgedunsen, leer, krampfhaft, banal ... Ich weiß diese Serie für ihre anfängliche Energie zu schätzen, mit der sie traditionelle Vorstellungen des Genres sowie der dramaturgischen Konzepte regelrecht anknackst, jedoch am Ende kommt heraus, dass ein wenig Rigidität überhaupt nicht geschadet hätte. Sorrentino quillt von allem über, jedoch sicherlich nicht von der Fähigkeit, sich selbst zensieren zu können. Brillante Momente wechseln sich dementsprechend mit Verlegenheit ab. P.S.: Die wahren Päpste dieser Serie sind die großartigen Charaktere der Kardinäle Voiell und Gutiérrez. P.S. 2: In meinen Gedanken kehre ich zu den besten Momenten des Papstes immer noch (gerne) zurück. Daher noch etwas mehr.
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At first, I expected Paolo Sorrentino to film something more rough and more critical towards the Church. And he’s technically done it, although I don’t think that he’s offended the Church at all. He’s simply pointed out a certain state of it and he’s accepted everything else with humility, because Jude Law plays a fictional Pope character who is extravagant, but also conservative at the same time. He smokes, he likens himself to Daft Punk and openly claims that he doesn’t believe in God; because he’s the true God. And Sorrentino has filmed the entire show the way only he could – without a deeper story, but with strong moments, effectively, with the perfect soundtrack and at the same time, he managed to get maximum out of the actors. Thus the 10 episodes of this show won’t suck you in for the basically nonexistent story, but for the characters none of which is more relatable than the next one, but you can’t deny that they’re interesting. The Young Pope is an incredibly strange show and I’m fascinated that something like this can even exist. What’s more, I even watched till the very end. And I decided to ignore the people who view this show as an insult to the Church, because I personally didn’t find anything insulting about this, the opposite is true. It’s a very interesting project that – according to me – will get people talking for a long time and that will only amplify the fact that Sorrentino is a director unlike anybody else recently; and it will probably stay like that for a long time. And the Czech flags in the crowd as a response to the Czech National Symphony Orchestra were an overwhelmingly nice touch. :-)
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In some places, it seems like "we are following the time-proven quality TV plot at all costs", but this certainly does not mean that it would be to the detriment. The ambivalent character of the young pope as a real dark Catholic who believes in nothing but himself and who hides his own groping/searching in the guise of real dark Catholicism and a powerful uncompromising Old Testament God, whose love we are unworthy of. If you are into a Machiavellian scheming full of dialogs, where each sentence is ambiguous and where there is an unspoken tangible tension under seemingly friendly sentences about nothing, in which the sentence stated has the same weight as silence, then the Young Pope is definitely for you. Because the movie is excellent at that. Problematic so far are the occasional WTF sequences à la CGI kangaroo, which are… Simply WTF. Also, some characters a little bit insignificant, but the acting saves the situation, no doubt about it. You can immediately tell it’s a Sorrentino's distinctive style. Occasional insights into the every day routine of life "behind the monastery walls" are nicely civil. Symbolism is (mostly) not annoying. A seemingly apolitical pope with a clear agenda versus scheming of the cardinals magnificently satirical. Contemplation of existence and God full of points that are not cheap, dry apt humor, football Naples is present. The Pope is subversive as the exact opposite of the current progressive Pope. Great acting (Jude Law and Silvio Orlando as the icing on the cake), refined audiovisuals and, as expected, the story line is completely absent. This is about the characters, not the story and twists. It’s kind of a "thriller of inner faith". However, we cannot say the experience in unbalanced. There are really great sequences as well as the rather dull ones. And exactly this proves the best that the footage of ten episodes is not entirely justified. These are the (weak) strong points of The Young Pope in a nutshell.
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The opening scene, where you will see an art gallery, through whose individual canvases flies the Bethlehem star, which at the end of the shot turns into a black meteorite and knocks down the statue of John Paul II, shows that the creators will not pamper you and you cannot expect to watch a polite and comforting work. The unexpectedly chosen 47-year-old cardinal, whom the exhausted, deeply polarized conclave chose as the new pope, from the beginning deviates from established ideas about contemporary papacy. In a sense, Lenny resembles modern Islamists who despise the faith of their parents, which they associate with stagnation and gradual decline. They do not hesitate to use modern technology and want a modern society, but one firmly bound by the spiritual principles of their faith. Moral norms and lifestyles must be in accordance with a strict interpretation of the Quran. Lenny feels that Catholicism is morally and religiously in a state of decline, and he himself suffers from doubts and doubts can best be dispelled by adherence to discipline and hierarchy. It is necessary to restore the old virtues. Lenny does not need a mass and popular church, he desires a strong and determined one. A mass church is useless if it loses its soul. The Pope is not there to show a friendly face and reassure. On the contrary, he is supposed to disturb, because the loss of certainty leads to attachment to the foundations of faith. In one scene, a concerned Vatican secretary argues that the church is becoming poorer and the bishops will be left without means. So be it, as a symbol of faith, we can take care of ourselves, is the response. Sorrentino subjects the entire archaic structure of the Catholic Church and the function of the papacy as an absolutist and infallible institution, which can claim divine authority, to critical examination - with the unpleasant realization that imperfect people perform this function. In the role of Lenny, Jude Law can be manipulative, sarcastic, and hard. However, the director does not want to present his protagonist as a devil in papal robes, and he instead just reminds us that there is a bit of darkness hidden in all of us, which surfaces in certain situations. Jude Law acts with absolute confidence and detachment in the role of his life, evidently enjoying himself, and presents his pope as a man who is inspired by the behavior and strategy of popular culture stars. Those who are looking forward to critical strikes at the known weaknesses of the Catholic Church will reliably get their share, but that is only one of the numerous levels of the series. You will find no escape from Sorrentino's typical extravagant playfulness, contrasting work with music, and stylistic quirks. The charm of the series lies in ambiguous dialogues and above all in magically shaped characters, from miniature snarls to actors who almost never leave the camera frame. My personal favorite became the unhappy Cardinal Voiello, who, due to his position, is the first to face the consequences of the pope's decisions. The Young Pope certainly cannot be recommended to everyone, but it is original, and if you can tune in to its frequency, it also becomes a charming spectacle. As the British literary classic G.K. Chesterton once said, the Bible tells us to love our neighbor and even our enemy. I have a strong suspicion that they are one and the same person. By leading the church, Lenny gives his sheep the opportunity to understand this wisdom to the core. Overall impression: 90%.
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A delightfully satirical drama that takes place in the untraditional setting of the Vatican Church. Sorrentino puts his money on symbolism and the visual side, right from the beginning. Law is fantastic and his Pius XIII is obviously just getting warmed up. I can’t wait to see how is this going to turn out… An emotional story about life. It doesn’t matter whether you are religious or not. Cynical scenes blend naturally with spirituality and the brilliance lies in Sorrentino’s way of handling the whole story and in fitting soundtrack. Because it is self-standing miniseries, the creators didn’t have to hold back and were able to conclude everything that they wanted to tell us. Another high point of the year, and again from HBO.
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From the moment you realize Sorrentino is going to bring this whole thing down to parent issues, you're praying he'll wrap it up as quickly as possible and not totally decimate everything that made half of the series so breathtaking. It was a close call this time around, but the question is whether his general tendency to pull all the truths of the world down to one simple point will stimulate or irritate me more in the future. On the other hand, I will not deny that this question is for me more than for him.
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