REVIEWS We Have A Pope REVIEWED BY LEE MARSHALL
A delightfully underplayed turn from Michel Pic- coli as a newly elected Pope paralysed by feelings of inadequacy, a large dose of widescreen confi- dence and some delicate human observation fail to make up for the unresolved feel of Nanni Moretti’s long-awaited Vatican film, which seems to share its protagonist’s fear of commitment. Fascinating and frustrating in equal measure,
and less funny than one might expect, We Have A Pope (Hebemus Papam) hits a fresh and graceful note in its opening scenes but soon becomes just another off-the-wall Moretti comedy mixing Freud, God, Darwin, Chekhov and volleyball. The film opened in Italy on 450 copies — a
record for the director — taking $1,865,334 over its opening weekend and reaching out beyond Moretti’s core arthouse audience. We Have A Pope initially puts not a foot wrong
in its establishment of tone, segueing from news footage into a procession of cardinals as they file into the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pontiff, with touches of comedy arising through the gabble of a superficial TV anchorman and a hint of growing absurdity in the names of the saints being chanted. Cardinal Melville (Piccoli), a mild-mannered
prelate, accepts the papacy, but as he is about to be presented to the crowds in the square he bottles
COMPETITION
It. 2011. 104mins Director/screenplay Nanni Moretti Production companies Sacher Film, Fandango, Le Pacte, France 3 Cinéma International sales Fandango Portobello Sales, sales@
fandangoportobello.com Producers Nanni Moretti, Domenico Procacci Screenplay Nanni Moretti, Francesco Piccolo, Federica Pontremoli Cinematography Alessandro Pesci Production designer Paola Bizzarri Editor Esmeralda Calabria Music Franco Piersanti Main cast Michel Piccoli, Nanni Moretti, Renato Scarpa, Jerzy Stuhr, Franco Graziosi, Camillo Milli, Roberto Nobile, Margherita Buy
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out. The Italian trailer sells the film as a Vatican variation on Analyse This, with Moretti’s arrogant, atheist therapist, Professor Brezzi, having the task of sorting out the self-doubting Pope. But in fact there is just one amusing (but dramatically flat) scene between the two, and the uncertain Melville and the cocky Brezzi go their separate ways. It is here We Have A Pope loses its way. The let-
down begins with Moretti’s entrance — though his trademark control-freakery generates funny epi- sodes, his tendency to monologue while others are attempting a dialogue and his ironic collusion with the audience undermine what might have been a sensitive moral comedy.
Pin-sharp widescreen photography, the lush
choreography and costumes of the scarlet-clad cardinals, Franco Piersanti’s densely scored classi- cal orchestral soundtrack, and above all the sense of real pathos in the central story of a man crushed by the God-given responsibility thrust upon him all build a sense of anticipation. Moretti seems so terrified of the easy solution
that he takes aim and shoots his film in the foot. Yet despite the ensuing limp, its anti-feelgood con- clusion does have a certain moral authority.
SCREEN SCORE ★ ★
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n 22 Screen International at the Cannes Film Festival May 12, 2011
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