We Have a Pope (Habemus Papam)

Named after the Latin phrase that announces the election of a new pope, We Have a Pope (original title Habemus Papam) comes from director Nanni Moretti, who made the Italian-French comedy-drama in 2011. Moretti shared the screenplay with Francesco Piccolo and Federica Pontremoli, and after opening in Italy in April 2011 the film went on to compete at the 64th Cannes Film Festival. Sacher Film and Fandango produced it, on a budget of about 9 million euros.

When the last pope dies, the cardinals gather in Rome and vote in a new one. But the man chosen, feeling unready, panics and flees before the ceremony that would present him to the public. Michel Piccoli plays Cardinal Melville. The psychoanalyst Brezzi, played by Moretti himself, is called in to help. The pope will not be persuaded and finally escapes the Vatican too, blending into the crowd. Jerzy Stuhr appears as the spokesman and Renato Scarpa as Cardinal Gregori; Margherita Buy and Lucia Mascino are also in the cast.

In his previous film, Il caimano, Moretti took on a fictional subject about Silvio Berlusconi; here he turns his camera on the pope. The film is often described as a tragicomedy. One viewer found the subject well conceived but poorly realised, with a fast, monotonous script.