Review

Filmed and completed in 2002, newly released My Mother’s Smile (a.k.a. The Religion Hour in Europe) once again pits veteran New Wave director Marco Bellocchio directly against the Catholic Church. In a story full of wondrous, gleaming images, Ernesto Picciafuocco (played with conviction and subtlety by Sergio Castellitto), a celebrated Italian painter, learns that the Church and his family are preparing evidence to present his murdered mother as a case for martyrdom and thus for sainthood. Distinctly original, the story takes us on a tortured journey through scheming relatives and the bureaucracies of impenetrable social institutions. Bellocchio masterfully conducts all the tools at his disposal as Ernesto, an avowed atheist, must pit his wit and sly smile against the wishes of his closest relatives who seek social status afforded by the possible canonization. All the norms are poked fun at here: Ernesto and his wife are on the verge of divorce; his young son speaks to God omnipresent, telling him to get out of his head; the brother charged with murdering his mother is constantly blaspheming.

Using themes and devices explored in his debut Fists in the Pocket, Bellocchio updates the main concern – individual against society and its constraints, in a beautiful tale of mystery, hidden love, madness and retribution. A near masterpiece of mature, Italian cinema, My Mother’s Smile is both shocking and sweet.

 -- Max Brinck