Paolo Sorrentino has carved out a career in his homeland that has seen him become one of its most prominent and diverse directors, dabbling with a number of genres.

He’s also made a few US films, including 2011’s This Must be the Place, starring Sean Penn.

With his last film being 2021’s semi-autobiographical The Hand of God, the Italian director now brings us a picturesque coming-of-age drama.

Born in the actual sea of Naples in 1950 was Parthenope (Celeste Dalia Porta), now 20-years-old with the world art her feet. But because of her stunning beauty, she also finds the majority of the male population their too.

This includes her own brother Raimondo (Daniele Rienzo), who has an unhealthy obsession with her.

But Parthenope is keen to walk her own path, deciding to study Anthropology at university, where she begins to encounter some interesting characters, any of whom help to shape her development from young woman to adult. But the journey is not without personal tragedy, which never leaves her.

Sorrentino’s latest is a curious tale of a young women’s unusual path through life. His protagonist is a siren, who bewitches nearly every man that crosses her path. It’s a power that she becomes aware of, but chooses to mostly ignore, deciding to be attracted to more unconventional characters, such as a literary hero, John Cheever, played by Gary Oldman.

Parthenope is the type of character in cinema where it’s not only every man that enters her orbit that falls in love with her, but Sorrentino’s lens too. This means that, by extension, the audience does too, seduced by the sensual imagery, with Parthenope walking from one scene, to the next, scantily clad, often smoking seductively. Sorrentino knows exactly what he’s doing, playing up to it on occasions when his young protagonist looks directly down the lens with her Bambi eyes, causing all those catching her gaze to melt.

Much of this is down to the confidence of the film’s star Porta, who is never seemingly intimidated, with the kind of performance that transcends the nudity on display, and despite her being the focus of the male gaze throughout, puts her in complete control of it, which is some achievement.

It helps that not only is she shot beautifully, but the whole film is, with impressive cinematography showcasing not only her, but Italy itself, both in their stunning glory.

It does come across that perhaps that Sorrentino is quietly obsessed with his leading actress, which is understandable, as she features for the majority of his film. The issue with that is however, that although we see her later in life – played by another actress – there feels like there’s a huge chunk of her life in-between that we’re not privy too, that could also have been intriguing, whether played by Porta or not.

Still, there’s no deny that between Porta’s performance and the stunning cinematography, it’s likely to take your breath away.