Cercando La grande bellezza

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Travel is useful,

it exercises the imagination.

All the rest

is disappointment and fatigue.

Our journey is entirely imaginary.

That is its strength.

It goes from life to death.

People, animals, cities, things,

all are imagined.

It's a novel,

just a fictitious narrative.

Littr says so, and he's never wrong.

And besides, anyone can do as much.

You just have to close your eyes.

It's on the other side of life.

Louis-Ferdinand Cline

Journey to the End of the Night

Fire!

You're a real pain in the ass!

Enough!

They even have cocktails

with cherries. Remember?

Hey, jerks!

I'll screw you!

I'll screw you!

Have you seen Ermanno?

- I'll screw you! Now!

- Get lost!

What the hell are you doing?

My phone's been stolen!

I'm starring in two TV dramas...

I'm playing a Pope in one,

and a junkie on the road to recovery

in the other.

Impressive!

No theatre work?

I'm supposed to do

Shakespeare with Pietro, but...

it has to be at least

three hours long,

be an ambitious project,

and no more small cities!

I'm trying to write a piece

for theatre, and the concept is...

- What about you?

- I might give up acting.

In this shitty country there are

never any good female roles.

I'll write my first novel,

a Proust-style piece.

Really?

Proust is my favourite writer!

Along with Ammaniti...

What a coincidence.

Who is that woman?

Don't you recognise her?

It's Lorena.

Who?

An ex TV showgirl, now in

full physical and mental decline.

Never seen her! But then

I've never had a television.

Viola, I know you don't have one.

You tell me all the time.

- What does she do now?

- Nothing, of course.

Happy birthday, Jep!

Happy birthday, Rome!

La Colita!

To this question, as kids,

my friends always gave

the same answer...

"p*ssy".

Whereas I answered...

"the smell of old

people's houses".

The question was:

"What do you like most, really,

in life?"

I was destined for sensibility.

I was destined to become a writer.

I was destined to become

Jep Gambardella.

You paid no attention

to me tonight!

Romano, don't start moaning,

we're not an item.

- You liked that guy?

- I like everyone and no one.

But I wonder why you're always

with me when it's no one's turn.

- Will you take me to the airport?

- Sure. What time are you leaving?

- In three hours.

- Three hours?

Then I should crash on your sofa...

Go home, I need to pack

and I don't want anyone around.

- But I live miles away.

- See you at 8:
00.

Goodnight.

Guys?

Guys?

Children!

Run along!

Catellani?

The best, of course.

Did Catellani the tailor

make your suit?

There was no doubt

about Malagna's shady intentions.

The girl should be rescued

at any cost, without loss of time.

Sir, you drank!

Just enough to forget

my birthday.

- You want infusion?

- Heavens, no!

- I got you a present.

- How sweet!

This is a lucky charm

from my country.

Good thing it's lucky,

because it's pretty ugly.

Keep it on your bedside

and stop complaining!

I will! And thanks.

Wake me up at 15:00, you rascal.

You're funny when you call me that!

I don't love you!

Brilliant!

Did you enjoy the performance?

Parts of it.

That violent head-butt

made me understand many things.

- Let's start from the beginning.

- Or the end?

You know, Talia Concept

loves to provoke.

Don't bother, there are more

important things than provoking me.

And this habit of speaking

in the third person is unbearable.

What are you reading?

I don't need to read, I live

on vibrations, extra-sensory ones.

Extra-sensoriality aside,

what do you mean by vibrations?

The poetry of vibrations cannot

be described

with the vulgarity of words.

Well, try at least.

I'm an artist,

I don't need to explain jack sh*t.

So I'll write:
"Lives on vibrations,

but she doesn't know what they are."

I'm starting to dislike

this interview,

I sense conflictuality in you.

- Conflictuality as a vibration?

- As a pain in the ass.

Let's talk about my mom's

abusive boyfriend.

No! I want to know

what a vibration is.

It's my radar to intercept

the world.

Your radar... meaning?

You're a pain in the ass.

We got off to a bad start...

Talia Concept wants to be

interviewed by your paper,

it has many readers.

But you're biased.

Write about how she has sex

with her fianc 11 times a day,

he's a talented conceptual artist,

he covers basketballs with confetti!

He's sensational!

Talia Concept is talking about

things that are meaningless to me.

All I've heard

is unpublishable fluff.

You can't charm me

with things like:

"I'm an artist,

I don't need to explain".

Our paper has a core

of cultured readers

that don't want to be taken

for fools. I work for that core.

So let me talk about my eventful,

difficult but necessary

journey as an artist!

Necessary for who?

For heaven's sake, madam,

what is a vibration?

- I don't know.

- You don't know.

You are an obsessive jerk!

I'll tell your editor to send me

a journalist of a higher stature.

A piece of advice:

when you speak to my editor,

go easy on the stature business.

She's a dwarf, you know.

Jep, this interview is a hoot!

Maybe, but don't send me

to interview someone

who head-butts walls again.

- You know what the trick is?

- Foam rubber.

Amateur dramatics isn't dead.

Did you get offended

about the stature comment?

Don't be silly!

That's the funniest bit!

I'm a dwarf, it's no secret.

It's the first and last thing

everyone says about me.

You're a spectacular woman, Dadina.

You've had the career you deserve.

But you haven't had the career

you deserve.

Maybe I don't have much to say...

Bullshit, you're lazy.

You never leave Rome.

Go to Giglio to do that report

on the Concordia

I've asked you to do 50 times.

Re-heated rice is always tastier

than freshly cooked rice.

The old is better than the new.

Plans tonight, chrie?

As the great De Blasi,

my predecessor, said:

"Tonight I'll do two things,

eat soup and have a shag."

Two things that contradict

each other.

That's what I'd say too,

and she'd reply, in a serious tone:

"No, Dadina, they don't,

because they're both hot."

There's a publishing house

in Ancona, it's not that small,

they want an interview book

about you.

Another interview book?

We're obsessed with interviews!

Can't you hear them?

"As I always say"... to who?

Forget it!

And honestly,

who'll buy a book called:

"Visions and revisions.

Jep Gambardella's Galaxy"?

It's a serious title!

Unfortunately in this country,

in order to be taken seriously,

you have to take yourself seriously.

I only wrote one novel, 40 years ago.

Impossible to find too...

Bullshit, "The Human Apparatus"

was a masterpiece!

It even won the... what was it?

- The Bancarella prize.

- Sh*t, the Bancarella prize!

You're very kind, but forget it...

it'd be too pompous.

I can't, you'll put me

in an awkward position.

I've agreed and I've even accepted

an advance...

- How much?

- 1,500 euros.

Give it back,

I'll give you 1,500 euros.

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