Sorrentino's 'La Grazia': Baroque Painting Reveals Film's Deeper Meaning

In Paolo Sorrentino's latest film 'La Grazia' (2025), a crucial scene set in a Vatican room—actually filmed in the Sacristy of San Filippo Neri in Turin—features a 17th-century Baroque altarpiece of a Crucifixion with the Virgin, St. John the Evangelist, and Mary Magdalene. The painting, attributed to a Roman Baroque school, is not a random choice. The film follows Italian President Mariano De Santis (Toni Servillo, winner of the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival) as he grapples with two pardon requests, an euthanasia law, his wife's death, and strained family relations. His nickname 'Cemento Armato' (Reinforced Concrete) reflects his political stability, having resolved six government crises. In the scene, the Pope (Rufin Doh Zeyenouin) tells De Santis, 'You know what you have, my friend? Grace,' drawing a parallel to Christ. The Baroque concept of 'grazia'—naturalness of movement hiding technical effort—mirrors the president's final realization: 'Grace is the beauty of doubt.' Sorrentino uses the painting to underscore the film's allegory of doubt as a form of grace.