Whether it’s been Robert Bresson or Martin Scorsese, Catholicism has been kind to cinema.
In return, cinema – and comedies in particular – has traditionally guffawed at the pageantry of the church of St Peter. It’s surprising, then, that this new comedy from Nanni Moretti, whose last feature mocked Silvio Berlusconi, isn’t the evisceration many predicted.
Michel Piccoli stars as a cardinal so alarmed to be offered the pontiff’s seat that he takes flight to the streets of Rome. Rather than shoot fish in a barrel, Moretti fashions a subtle, clear-eyed character study, with a lovely, layered turn from Piccoli.
