An audacious and inventive biopic of Italian parliamentarian (and “Senator for Life”) Giulio Andreotti illuminates, in great emotional detail, important events surrounding an early-1990s investigation in which the perpetual statesman was accused of having Mafia ties. The case was appealed and overturned several times, and Andreotti never served prison time, but it effectively marked the end of his centrist Christian Democratic party and forever changed the age-old relationship between the Mafia and the Italian government.

Toni Servillo plays Andreotti as an arrogant, deadpan Puck—an Italian Richard Nixon replete with easily mimicable physical tics and the conviction of his own rightness. In the film’s most memorable scene, Servillo allows his ironic veneer to crack just once, in a molten monologue where, spit flying, he justifies “perpetrating evil to guarantee good.” Paolo Sorrentino’s controlled and masterly storytelling won the 2008 Prix du Jury at Cannes.

Admission is $6 for all University of Miami alumni, faculty, and staff; free for students. General admission is $8. The film screens at the Cosford Cinema on Friday, June 26 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 27 at 6:15 p.m.; and Sunday, June 28 at 4 and 8:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com.