La messe est finie

"La messa è finita" is one of the best movies ever directed by Nanni Moretti, telling the story of a young priest and his life among relatives and friends. Their problems urge the priest to evaluate more deeply his vocation. With regard to other movies by Moretti, this one is not as overtly autobiographical as other, more recent titles. This allows the characteristic irony of Moretti a more fluid hand in depicting the little tragedies of his generation. At the same time, he is able to provide a thoughtful and touching portrait of a young priest in an Italy which is less and less Catholic.

A priest returns to his home village expecting to have an impact on both family and friends. He is hugely disappointed when he finds that even his mother and father have grown apart with his father's old life crisis and his sister's dilemma. I was reminded of the Irish Drama Calvary which had a similar premise. This is not quite as good but as a struggling Catholic-American, was impressed by the humanity of the script. The Mass is ended, watch this film.

After serving on an island in southern Italy, a young priest (Nanni Moretti) is assigned by his superiors to a parish in Rome. There, he reconnects with his family, father (Ferruccio De Ceresa) and mother (Margarita Lozano) as well as friends and he tries, to the best of his ability, to change things, but failure looms. Don Giulio hopes to live peacefully with his family and his friends, but discovers that many of them are depressed or frustrated, and some suicidal. Father Giulio determines to leave again, but his distressed parents convince him to perform the wedding ceremony for his friend Caesar (Roberto Vezzosi) and his fiancee. His subsequent personal and professional crisis makes him question his role within the Church... His hopes shattered, now it is time for another place...

The director , actor , producer and screenwriter Nanni Moretti plays, produces , writes and directs this film, which evokes the Italian society. Italian Moretti is the inventor of a way of making a first-person vision, taking charge of all the technical activities as well as interpretative and with this film evokes in a way that is sometimes ironic other times dramatic the hopes, frustrations and ideological and political disappointments of Italian youth, and in this case focusing on an unfortunate priest. This film ¨The mass is ended¨, which won the main award at the Berlin Film Festival, tells the story of the return home of a young priest who is reunited with his family and his empty and abandoned Church, subsequently things will get even worse. In his films Moretti reflects from a satirical, surreal and very personal angle, numerous aspects of Italian society. In his films, most of his characters go through crisis, everybody in real life, and similarly movie roles, go through depressing moments and crisis. He's interested in describing those moments since they show one's true character; truth emerges during a crisis. In ¨The mass is ended¨ stands out the attractive musical score by composer Nicola Piovani who won an Oscar for ¨Life is beautiful¨. Along with catching italian songs, such as: ¨Ritornerai¨ written and performed by Bruno Lauzi; ¨Sei bellissima¨ lyrics by Claudio Daiano, music by Gian Pietro Felisatti performed by Loredana Bertè and ¨I treni di Tozeur¨ written by Franco Battiato, Giusto Pio and Rosario Cosentino performed by Franco Battiato.

The motion picture was well directed by Nanni Moretti, although it gets a bit long and boring. Nanni Moretti explains about his films: ¨It's important to tell a story in a non-academic manner, to have a narrative which doesn't limit itself to fulfilling the basics: a narrative which, although familiar with the rules, can do without them. However, it is also important that it rings true within yourself, and also within what you are in the process of telling. You should never have a flat and ordinary relationship with the material you want to present¨. Since he was a kid he devotes himself to his two passions: cinema and water-polo. In 1970 he also played in water-polo first division in Italy, and in the junior National team. In fact, his passion for water polo inspired him to shoot Red Wood Pigeon (1989). Moretti made his acting debut in Padre Padrone (1977) by the Taviani brothers. His professional movie-making career starts with Ecce bombo (1978). This was also his first nation-wide success, and still a cult-movie for many Italians. After that, he became a prestigious actor and filmmaker. Four of his films were included in Cahiers du Cinéma's annual top 10 lists: Palombella Rossa (1989), Caro Diario (1994), Habemus Papam (2011), and Mia Madre (2015).

¨The Mass is ended¨ won several awards and nominations, such as: Winner Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize. Winner C. I. C. A. E. Award. David di Donatello Awards 1986 Nominated Best Film, Nominated Best Director (Nanni Moretti), Nominated Best Actor (Nanni Moretti), Nominated Best Supporting Actor (Ferruccio de Ceresa), Nominated Best Screenplay (Sandro Petraglia, Nanni Moretti) Nominated Best Production (Achille Manzotti).

The film begins with a wedding and finishes with too. A young candid priest, Don Giulio, returns home and finds bad changes. His new church is empty. The last priest is married and has a son. His father has an affair with a young woman (he goes to this woman to talk to her but gets upset and says good bye gruffly. That's the Moretti's style, I mean a very serious character in a very tense situation. The situation becomes funny because his reactions are unexpected, sudden and violent) His sister wants to have an abortion. His old friends, from the day he was a revolutionary, are misfits. An ex-commie is now catholic and wants to become a priest and finally get married. Don Giulio is on the brink of depression and resignation because he realizes that the new world is only based on material and sexual needs. He is an obsolete and useless man like a relic from the past. In my opinion, the scene that sums up his future behaviour is when he is playing football with children and suddenly falls down like a dead man which symbolizes the priest's distress. There is a leitmotiv music with a nostalgic mood played in a various ways all along the film. The music is very important because it explains Moretti's feelings, for instance : he plays with sound effects (the musical fade) in order to emphasize the drama itself; when his sister deals with his father, Don Giulio turns the radio up outloud : ironic and dramatic at once. Nanni Moretti also uses singing as tongue-in-cheek effects. He deals with serious and sad matters in a bittersweet way. Instead of the usual Michele Apicella character, Moretti now plays priest Don Giulio (like Socrates) who still enjoys his cakes, his ball, his mother and himself. Moretti treats the theme of the uncomprising individual through the courage and the stubbornness of his desperate priest who, for example, undergoes three times the violent attacks of men that don't want to park their car properly. The best scene is when the priest tries to save a friend from hoodlums and recite Dante. Nanni Moretti shows us a wide array of fantastic characters, for instance : the misanthropic man who wants to erase his past. "La messa è finita" is a subtle pamphlet and an analysis of today's Italy cleverly directed. Iconic actor Nanni Moretti remains the best contemporary European director.

A great and very touching film. Similraties can be find between "le journal d'un curé de campagne" of Bresson, "winter light" of Bergman and that wonderful "la messa è finita". It was strange to me to find out a Moretti film which has not got a very determined autobiographical narration. This film is not "hilarous" or even "funny", it is about the ability to faith, to believe in someone, to love someone. The ironic face of Moretti is on the background: A confused Italian society panorama with its lots generations, wit its moral values between a traditional Catholicism and a capitalistic and individualistic vision of a society. A film of spring, but the feelings that it brings are more like the feelings of autumn. It is melancholic. It is harsh. It is about a young man who believes and who dares to return: Turning back to an island that the winds blows so powerfully that the church is attached to the soil with the chains. young man who has alienated from the world of his childhood. Rome of his memories does not exist anymore. His family, his parents, his brothers and sisters, everything about his past has changed. So a film about changing time. A film about someone who is not able to understand what is going on between the couples, who is daring to investigate the sense of love and being a couple.

A very well-written film: Screenplay is literally good. Not just a portrait of a man or a panorama of a society, but also the stories of happiness-es and sadness-es. A film about inner-life's. It is highly bergmanesque -- A film that ends where it begins. A film as a gallery of strange characters from the misanthrope brother to ex-communist. A very courageous film proves the talent of Moretti which can be situated among Bresson or Bergman. (Not only Allen and some other comics.)