My Mother's Smile (2002)
"L'ora di religione (Il sorriso di mia madre)" (original title)

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

Director:

Marco Bellocchio

Writer:

Marco Bellocchio

Stars:

Sergio Castellitto, Jacqueline Lustig, Chiara Conti

16 wins & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Ernesto is a successful artist who has his life turned upside down by his family's wishes for the canonization of his murdered mother. His extreme dislike for her ignorant ways brings about a greater connection with his insane brother who killed her, while his other brothers favor her beatification. There is a struggle of wills and will power.

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Plot Keywords:

saint | canonization | painter | duel | blasphemy | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Océan Films [fr] Rai [it]

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

19 April 2002 (Italy)

Also Known As:

My Mother's Smile

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$9,167 (USA) (11 February 2005)

Gross:

$40,246 (USA) (9 September 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmalbatros, Rai Cinemafiction, Telepiù

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min 102 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Marco Bellocchio:  Man with Count Bulla at the party.

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Connections

Referenced in Good Morning, Night (2003)

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Soundtracks

"Psalm 23"
(de Exil, per soprano, strumenti e nastro magnetico) (1994)
Music by Giya Kancheli
Soprano: Maacha Deubner
Flauto: Natalia Pschenitschnikova
Violino: Catrin Demenga
Viola: Ruth Killius
Violoncello: Rebecca Firth
Contrabasso: Christian Sutter
Conducted by Vladimir Jurowski (as Wladimir Jurowski)
© C.F. Peters Musikverlag
Per gentile concessione ECM New Series
ECM Records, 1995

User Reviews

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.