My Mother's Smile (2005)

As with his feature debut, Fists in the Pocket, Marco Bellocchio's My Mother's Smile was deemed blasphemous by the Roman Catholic Church for what the Church referred to as Bellocchio's systematic destruction of family and religious values. Contrary to the Church's presumptions about Bellocchio, My Mother's Smile is a fascinating portrait of a man (Sergio Castellitto as Ernesto) who is forced to reconcile with his own atheism after receiving a shocking appeal from the Church requesting his participation in the canonization of his saintly mother. Ernesto is a successful painter/illustrator, recently separated from his wife, but entirely devoted to his impressionable young son, Leonardo. When Ernesto receives news from the mysterious Don Pugni, secretary to the equally enigmatic Cardinal Piumini, that the Vatican wants to anoint sainthood to his mother, he is stunned to discover that the beatification process has been under way for nearly three years. To his dismay, Ernesto quickly learns that his family, including his wife, one of his brothers and his covetous Aunt, has been quietly spearheading the campaign to canonize his mother behind his back. The family had feared that Ernesto's atheist conviction and his disdain for his dead mother would destroy any hope they had of winning the beautification and, more importantly, the individual rewards that each family member expects to gain from it. Adding to the perplexity of the situation, Ernesto discovers that his wife enrolled Leonardo in religion classes. The religion classes steer the boy into a growing obsession with God, inevitably forcing Ernesto to reexamine the merits of faith in contrast to his world as an artist and free atheist. More »

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