We Have a Pope

After the death of a pope, the cardinals gather in conclave to choose his successor. Their votes settle on Cardinal Melville, who is presented to the world as the new pontiff. Yet when the moment comes to appear on the balcony above St. Peter's Square, where crowds and journalists wait for him, Melville panics and cannot bring himself to step forward. The Vatican, determined to keep the situation hidden, brings in a psychoanalyst to assess and treat the man's distress, though the analyst is an atheist who is skeptical of the institution that hired him. Melville's struggle with the burden placed on him is something he must resolve himself.

Nanni Moretti directed and co-wrote the film with Francesco Piccolo and Federica Pontremoli, and produced it with Domenico Procacci. Moretti also appears as Doctor Brezzi, the therapist, alongside Michel Piccoli as Melville, Margherita Buy, Jerzy Stuhr and Renato Scarpa. The film followed Moretti's segment in To Each His Own Cinema and came before Three Floors in his filmography.

Released in 2011, the Italian-French production had a budget of about 11 million dollars and took roughly 18 million dollars worldwide. On TMDB it holds a rating of 6.8 from over 600 votes, while a critics' score of 6.1 from 82 reviews places it somewhat below the audience response.