La Grazia

Mariano De Santis is the president of the Italian Republic. No connection to any real-life presidents; he’s 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 that become tangled, in ways that seem impossible to unravel, with his private life. Driven by doubt, De Santis will have to make a decision nonetheless. And, with a deep sense of responsibility, that is exactly what this remarkable Italian president will do.

An Oscar winner for The Great Beauty, director Paolo Sorrentino opened the Venice Film Festival with this elegant film.