Film review: Habemus Papam

Anyone who has ever suffered stage fright or frozen at a crucial time will sympathize with Cardinal Melville, the protagonist of this Italian comedy-drama from director Nanni Moretti about a panicking pope.

It’s a glorious premise. The previous pontiff has passed away, and the film opens with the papal selection procedure at the Vatican. After some mockery of the press pack assembled outside, the focus switches to the cadre of cardinals, whose internal prayers are vocalized into a cacophony of “please not me, Lord”. From nowhere, surprise contender Melville (a terrific performance from the 85-year-old French actor Michel Piccoli) beats off the favorites to be pronounced pope.

But as the faithful pack St Peter’s Square awaiting his apostolic blessing from the balcony, Melville freezes and cannot go through with it. Prevented by papal protocol from choosing someone else, the Catholic Church top brass must resort to a series of measures to coax their shy leader into shouldering his duties.

One such attempt is through a psychotherapist (played by Moretti himself), and the movie derives humor from the clash between the buttoned-up solemnity of the Church and the probing Freudianism of the doctor. But just when it appears that Habemus Papam might be another psychotherapist-with-unlikely-patient tale of the Analyze

This! school, Melville does a runner and the film divides itself between the therapist’s Sister Act style efforts to liven up the Vatican (where he is stuck to stop him blabbing about the AWOL pontiff) and the troubled father’s wanderings in Rome as he struggles with the weight of expectations thrust upon him.

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It is owing to Moretti’s deft handling of his subject matter that both strands are successful. There’s lovely comedy in the bored doctor’s organizing of a Vatican volleyball contest and a Church lackey’s impersonation of Melville in his room (so the conclave doesn’t realize his absence). Meanwhile, Melville’s journey through the city is an emotive study of the limits of human resilience, responsibility, aspiration and aging.

One criticism that could be leveled is that in the post-abuse scandal era when the hypocrisy of religion is regularly rehearsed, the Catholic Church gets off rather lightly, its leaders presented as a benign bunch of elders. But that would be to miss the point: the film does not set out to excoriate the Vatican, but is a more human endeavor, considering issues and fears that affect all of us, whatever our standing in society or our faith.

Moretti’s production is a beautiful piece of filmmaking, a captivating blend of mirth and pathos, achieving what few modern movies manage: rendering more clear and poignant the human condition.

Debbie Stowe

Director: Nanni Moretti
Starring: Michel Piccoli
On: Cinema City Cotroceni, Cinema City Sun Plaza, Grand Cinema Digiplex Baneasa, Hollywood Multiple