The Young Pope

(series)
  • Italy Il giovane papa (more)
Trailer 1
Italy / France / Spain / USA, 2016, 8 h 38 min (Length: 50–55 min)

Creators:

Paolo Sorrentino

Directed by:

Paolo Sorrentino

Cinematography:

Luca Bigazzi

Composer:

Lele Marchitelli

Cast:

Jude Law, Diane Keaton, Silvio Orlando, Javier Cámara, Scott Shepherd, Cécile de France, Ludivine Sagnier, Toni Bertorelli, James Cromwell, Ignazio Oliva (more)
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VOD (1)

Episodes(10)

Plots(1)

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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Reviews of this series by the user Marigold (1)

The Young Pope (2016) 

English A great disappointment, given mainly by the expectations from the first episodes. The detached and unpredictable first half is a pleasure for the spiritual and earthy in us. In addition, Law acts as an irritating object that never behaves the way we want it to. Sorrentino recalled the days when he was not the grandmaster of flat populism, but could conquer quite fundamental existential concepts with his image and sound. The Vatican is his next terrarium full of lazy human reptiles searching in vain for meaning - and in this respect The Young Pope is finally a viable substance. But then there is the second half, especially some parts of episodes 6-10. What was spontaneous is rigid here. What was imaginative is random here. Ambivalence turns into literality, provocativeness into superficiality. The character of the pope becomes a trivial "incomprehensible saint". Sorrentino wanders, does silly screenwriting idiocies (the case with the letters in the table? Wtf?), sometimes uses the music downright demonstratively (Kalinka? Wtf?). The final point is unfortunately the Paolo model of Youth. Puffy, empty, convulsive, banal... I appreciate this series for its original energy with which it disrupts traditional notions about the genre and dramaturgical concept, but in the end it turns out that a little rigidity would not hurt at all. Sorrentino is full of everything, but certainly not the ability to self-censor. Brilliant moments alternate with uncertain moments. P. S. The real popes of this series are the magnificent characters of Cardinals Voiell and Gutierrez. P. S. 2: I keep (gladly) returning to the Pope's best moments in my thoughts. That’s why I’m giving it a better score. ()