Strongly Recommended. At some point in his sixties, an honest man usually comes to the conclusion that his life has been a failure. Few of the conceits of youth have come to pass; his destiny is unfulfilled. This revelation then either breaks him or slips under the blah-blah-blah of existence . . . and he moves on. The latter fate seems to apply to Jep Gambardella, the narrator of The Great Beauty, at the end of the story. His life, after a youthful flash of greatness, has degenerated into Rome’s longest conga line, leaving him alone at his gigantic 65th birthday party. Director Paolo Sorrentino, much younger than Jep, may only intend a metaphor for the last 65 years of Italian cinema. We’re left to ponder this after the lovely music (Lele Marchitelli), images (Luca Bigazzi) and dialogue (Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello) of this Golden Globe, BAFTA and Oscar-winning film retreat into memory.