Loro

Directed by Paolo Sorrentino from a screenplay he co-wrote with Umberto Contarello, this 2018 Italian-French drama paints a satirical portrait of media magnate and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and the circle orbiting him. Toni Servillo plays Berlusconi, while the film surveys the businessmen, politicians and opportunists who live and scheme in his shadow, roughly between 2006 and 2009. The title, Italian for "them," also puns on l'oro, meaning "the gold," an allusion to the gilded, decadent world these figures inhabit. Elena Sofia Ricci appears as Berlusconi's wife Veronica Lario, and Riccardo Scamarcio as Sergio Morra, a hustler trying to buy his way into the tycoon's favor. In Italy the picture was released in two installments, Loro 1 and Loro 2, in the spring of 2018; for international markets the material was condensed into a single cut of about two hours, a version also prepared for awards-season consideration. With his trademark visual flair, Sorrentino turns the saga into a reflection on power, desire and spectacle in contemporary Italy.