Atheists and believers are poles apart, but there is one thing that they have in common – none of them knows for good and certain if they’re right. As a prominent heart surgeon in Rome, Tomasso (Marco Giallini) is pragmatic and curt, a man who knows what it means to not pull his punches. His life of wealth and privilege has been built on unchallenged certainties. When his son Andrea (Enrico Oetiker) announces that he intends abandoning his medical studies to join the priesthood, Tomasso is flabbergasted – to the father it is as ridiculous as wanting to be a bagpipe player.
Edoardo Maria Falcone’s sweet-natured movie deals with Tomasso’s struggle to cope with what to him is incomprehensible. And on top of that, his neglected wife Carla (Laura Morante) decides that she has had enough of her station in life and moves into the maid’s room. The catalyst for such radical upheaval has arrived in the form of charismatic priest Don Pietro (Alessandro Gassman), who has had a profound influence on Andrea. Tomasso’s broadmindedness can only stretch so far – it’s always the case – and he employs a private investigator to get to the bottom of Don Pietro’s activities – why IS he receiving wads of money from a stranger on the street?
The farcical episodes that follow are never quite foolish enough to diminish the themes of acceptance and self-empowerment – in one hilarious scene, Tomasso has to play the husband to his irate, put-upon hospital assistant – and the whole is held together by fine performances and a simplicity of delivery. The Eternal City is shot with a retro loving eye by cinematographer Tomasso Borgstrom and, just when you’re all cosy in the softly-softly debate between God and science, an incident shakes you out of your complacency and leads to a finale of intense emotional impact. If Falcone comes down on the side of the angels it is in an acceptable way that is neither didactic nor exclusive. A film of compassion and hope.