The film takes flight on the brilliant title performance by Tony Servillo (Gomorrah), who plays Andreotti like a mummified Alec Guinness, as if encased in layers of plaster of Paris.

We may not know the man, but we know the dance, as seen in the highly diverting and hugely controversial Il Divo, a biopic as wly as its subject.

A stunning piece of work that feels both familiar and completely unique at the same time.

A more conventional filmmaker would be defeated by Andreotti's murky history, but Sorrentino's flamboyantly Baroque approach - full of dazzling visual flourishes worthy of Scorsese in his pomp - delivers an indelible portrait.