The Confessions

"They are rich, fat, and sleek. They excel in wickedness, they do not plead the cause of the orphan, they do not defend the rights of the poorest." Such are financiers and bankers, the prime movers of global events, in the words of Carthusian monk Roberto Salus, who is attending a G8 summit of financial ministers at the invitation of IMF chief Daniel Roché. The scene is the Baltic coast at a majestic luxury hotel where state treasurers are preparing to introduce radical economic reforms that will have irreparable destructive effects on less-developed countries. The economic leaders' overweening arrogance, however, is severely tempered when one of them is found dead in his hotel room. Salus quickly becomes the main suspect. In his new film – a new kind of philosophical suspense drama – Roberto Andò proves that supreme stylistic elegance and intellectual depth need not be mutually exclusive. He reminds us through his hero, portrayed by the inimitable Toni Servillo (The Great Beauty) with cultivated grace and gentle irony, that wasting time has never harmed anyone. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)