Ora di religione (Il sorriso di mia madre), L' (2002)

Regisseur:

Marco Bellocchio

Drehbuchautor:

Marco Bellocchio (written by)

Premierendatum:

19. April 2002 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A celebrated painter receives a visit from a cardinal's assistant, who informs him that his mother could become a saint.

Filmpreise:

14 wins & 14 nominations

Nutzerkommentare:

A Rollicking Satire of Religion

Besetzung

Sergio Castellitto	...	Ernesto Picciafuocco
Jacqueline Lustig	...	Irene Picciafuocco
Chiara Conti	...	Diana Sereni
Gigio Alberti	...	Ettore Picciafuocco
Alberto Mondini	...	Leonardo Picciafuocco
Gianfelice Imparato	...	Erminio Picciafuocco
Gianni Schicchi	...	Filippo Argenti (as Gianni Schicchi Gabrieli)
Maurizio Donadoni	...	Cardinal Piumini
Donato Placido	...	Egidio Picciafuocco
Renzo Rossi	...	Baldracchi
Pietro De Silva	...	Curzio Sandali
Bruno Cariello	...	Don Pugni
Piera Degli Esposti	...	Aunt Maria
Toni Bertorelli	...	Count Ludovico Bulla
Maria Luisa Bellocchio	...	Zia Ernesto

Alternativ:

The Religion Hour (Europe: English title)
The Religion Hour (My Mother's Smile) (International: English title)

Länge:

103 Min | Argentina:105 Min (Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema) | France:102 Min (Cannes Film Festival)

Produktionsland:

Italy

Sprache:

Italienisch

Farbe:

Farbe

Tonverfahren:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Altersfreigabe:

Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Italy:VM14

Firma:

Filmalbatros

Dies und das:

Chosen by "Les Cahiers du cinéma" (France) as one of the 10 best pictures of 2002 (#06)

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Verweis/Anspielung/Erwähnung in Buongiorno, notte (2003)

Soundtrack:

Musica celestis

A Rollicking Satire of Religion

"My Mother's Smile (L'Ora di religione: Il sorriso di mia madre)" is a rollicking take on Catholicism that's very like how "I Heart Huckabees" treated existentialism, but with even more Tom Robbins-like absurdist humor.

Almost Kafka-like, with a touch of Woody Allen, the central character is the straight man in the joke, particularly with Sergio Castellitto's hang dog look (he was the Italian lover in "Mostly Martha") as he wakes up one morning to discover that his mother is about to be declared a saint.

We see the impact of this hypocritical quest on his ex-wife, brothers, old friends, aunts, priests and other people he has to come in contact with over two days, as everyone has selfish reasons for promoting sainthood. The potential canonization also becomes a vehicle to examine violence, sin, madness, ambition, love, parent/child relationships, philosophy, and art, as the central figure is an artist and the titular expression is captured in a Mona Lisa-like portrait.

The satire goes a bit overboard, though, when the son is challenged to a duel at dawn, though I think there was some point about the pointlessness of archaic societal rules. Small characters are weighted with too many meanings, like a crazy architect seeking to blow up a national monument that figures in a souvenir photograph, a witness whose name is a pseudonym from Dante, a mysterious, beautiful religion teacher, and more symbolism that went by, particularly as this is one of those typical Italian movies where the subtitles seem abridgments of the conversations.

In a lovely twist on the pieta, the most moving scenes are the paternal ones between father and son.

The soundtrack includes beautiful contemporary classical religious music including Adams and Tavener.