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"Do you have problems with faith?", asked the psychologist Nanni Moretti to the newly elected pope played by Michel Piccoli in "Habemus Papam" (2011).
Well, here there's a dean who has problems with faith, the pope passes away, and it falls to the aforementioned dean to organize and celebrate the conclave. But the cardinals have something to hide, not all, and some are convinced that they must use an iron fist against the unbelievers (Islamic, of course), and there's a nun who knows too much. Final plot twist.
It's impossible to say more to avoid various spoilers, but that's the gist. The film is based on the namesake novel by Robert Harris dated 2016.
Berger, the director, skillfully reconstructs the undeniably heavy atmosphere of the conclave, surrounded by impressive security measures and restless cardinals, focusing on seemingly useless but effective details (the cigarettes consumed and left to rot on the ground; the tortellini lovingly prepared by the nuns for the cardinals in "cloister") and can rely on Ralph Fiennes' excellent performance, a dean oppressed by doubts who doesn't want to become Pope but at least wants to choose one who is up to the task.
Aside from this, however, he gets everything else wrong. The narrative is way too slow and convoluted if taken as a thriller, unintentionally comedic at times, jagged where more lightness was needed. And the direction of the actors leaves much to be desired: Angelo Bellini/Stanley Tucci is underwhelming and monotonous, Tedesco/Sergio Castellitto's overacted and caricatured, not to mention the plot twists dispensed sparingly after more than an hour of film.
A blockbuster cooked and served for Christmas following the trail of "Angeli e demoni" but without flair and with exasperatingly annoying pretenses of verisimilitude (there's even an attack, imagine that) that do not delve into the internal dynamics of the power relationships within the Church, limited to a very simplistic opposition between modernists and traditionalists, without even trying to understand, or attempt to understand, what it means to lose faith, find it again, and lose it once more.
Some characters, moreover, are shallow and superficial, like the simoniacal cardinal played by a revived John Lithgow or the nun who knows too much, played by an unrecognizable Isabella Rossellini, which if one remembers from "Blue Velvet" almost faints. The ending (no, absolutely not revealing it) however, has all the aroma, or rather the stench, of poor quality progressivism which, in the end, doesn't mind embracing militant traditionalism.
The cinematography is well-crafted but, well, we've seen better, the set designs are good (despite some errors regarding the characters painted in the Sistine Chapel, computer graphics sometimes don't work miracles, so we're on theme) and a good reconstruction of the Vatican at the Royal Palace of Caserta (the Vatican, as we know, doesn't allow any kind of filming unless they are of a documentary type and hyper-selected).
A perfect film for spending two hours munching popcorn, with a strong whiff of being a flop. Cinema resides elsewhere.
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