ROME – Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino’s film about the life of Silvio Berlusconi, will be released in two parts in April and May of this year, and promises to explore one of Italy’s most charismatic and controversial contemporary figures.  

 The Italian director’s stature has grown enormously in recent years with his film The Great Beauty winning the Best Foreign Picture category at the Oscars in 2014. More recently, he directed the television series, The Young Pope, starring Jude Law.

 “Loro,” now in two parts, will document the life of Italy’s 81-year-old statesman. Alongside directing duties, Sorrentino has also co-written the film with Umberto Contarello.

 It reunites the famed director with The Great Beauty’s central actor Toni Servillo, who will play the ex-premier. So far, the trailers for “Loro 1” have given only glimpses of Servillo’s Berlusconi, suggesting a similarly enigmatic performance.

 In the trailer released on Thursday, the camera pans across many of the faces featured in the film as “Il Cavaliere” (as the former PM is known) sings a Neapolitan classic, “Malafemmena.”

 Back in October, Sorrentino promised that the movie would explore “the man behind the politics.” It is not the first time that he has forayed into the political world. In 2008, he directed the film “Il Divo” about another former prime minister, Giulio Andreotti.

 Berlusconi has become almost synonymous with modern-day Italian politics and though many of his countrymen revile his control of the Italian media, his alleged connections with the mafia and his handling of the financial crisis, he remains a potent figure.   

 Nevertheless, a poor performance at the recent Italian elections has led some to suggest that, 25 years and several face-lifts after bursting onto the political scene, his power to enchant the Italian electorate may be fading.   

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