Day 30/32 - We Have a Pope (2011)

"Habemus Papam" is the decree the college of cardinals make when they select a new pope. The film begins with brief glimpses of the previous pope's funeral and then all the cardinals walks in line to the Sistine Chapel, the historic room upstairs in the Vatican. As the voting for the new pope begins, tensions mount and we hear what each of the cardinal's is thinking, "Please God, not me." When the voting is finally finished, a totally unexpected candidate, pious, simple, a John-Paul type, Cardinal Melville is named pope. When he answers the standard question about accepting the position, he says, "Yes." But as the is being introduced to his new flock, he screams and runs away. The new pope doesn't want to be pope.

I found the opening highly moving and beautifully acted.

As Il portavoce (Jerzy Struh) tries to figure out how to deal with the sensibilities of Il papa (Michel Piccoli), Lo psicoanalista (director, cowriter Nanni Moretti), the best psychiatrist they can find in a hurry is brought in.  He tries to conduct a session with his patient, but no one will tell him his name and he has to do the session with all the cardinals watching. Quickly we learn that he is an atheist and a humanist, and while he sincerely wants to help, no breakthroughs come. He does mention that his wife is considered the second best psychiatrist in Rome, and Il portavoce sets up an appointment with her. Her take is that all neuroses stem from parential deficiencies. Il papa, who cannot tell her he is pope, tells her he is an actor, a wonderful metaphor for all the actor/priests I know. Il papa in his existential conflict, ditches his security as he leaves and much of the film deals with their attempts to find him, make everyone believe Il papa is praying in his suite, and Il papa's coming to terms with his ultimate delemma.

There were for me truly delightful moments in the film:

• Lo psicoanalista organizes the cardinals in a volleyball tournaments where they are allowed to show their wonderful humanity.
• The cardinals hear music they think Il papa is listening to and become enraptured with the music.
• Il papa wanders the Papal gardens while the Swiss Guard prepare. Their encounter is charmingly done.
• Il papa ends up watching a performance of Chekhov's The Sea Gull, for which he knows all the lines. The actors he had encountered earlier and one of them--most like himself--seems driven mad by his role. Another metaphor. As the audience watches, all the cardinals appear in the audience in full robes and hats, ready to bring Il papa home. I found the scene as stunning as Hitchcock's Doris Day at the orchestra performance in The Man Who Knew Too Much. Doris Day's scream punctuates Hitchcock's scene. Here, one of the gentlest of the cardinals shyly waves to the pope and smiles.

[Spoiler alert] At the showing I saw, we discussed the ending. Il papa, who has spent his life taking the orders of the Church, dresses in his robes to deliver his first speech as pope, and refuses to accept the position. Many in the audience felt showed that he had not learned or grown in the journey we watch him take. I totally disagree. Cardinal Melville tells one of the psychiatrists that he has nothing to say, that all he knows has flown out of the window. It is through his encounter with this existential dilemma that Cardinal Melville finds the strength to realize that he has the ability to say no and step down. It is a totally surprising, but for me a totally reasonable dramatic completion of the film.

As a Roman Catholic who visited the Vatican last summer, I was totally moved by the film.

We Have a Pope (2011) ****