It’s double announcement day for Nanni Moretti’s Habemus Papam. This morning it was among the first batch of North American premiere titles announced for this year’s TIFF and in the afternoon, the church bells chimed once again, as Sundance Selects announced their pick-up of the comedy with a pinch of drama.
Gist : Written by Moretti with Francesco Piccolo and Federica Pontremoli, this is about a Pope (Michel Piccoli) who decides he doesn’t want the job as soon as he’s elected. Moretti will play a psychiatrist called in by the Vatican to resolve the problem.
Worth Noting: From wiki: Piccoli has worked with Jean Renoir, Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Lelouch, Jacques Demy, Claude Sautet, Louis Malle, Agnès Varda, Leos Carax, Luis Buñuel, Costa-Gavras, Alfred Hitchcock, Marco Ferreri, Jacques Rivette, Otar Iosseliani and Jacques Doillon.
Do We Care?: Moretti who is best known for taking jabs within and outside of his films, went soft with this hypothetical template of a Pontiff who goes rogue. We didn’t care for acts I, II or III, or for Moretti’s severely underwritten character of a psychoanalyst/volleyball enthusiast. Sticking to in volleyball lingo, this one is a definite pass.
