Omamamia (2012)

After the death of her beloved husband, Loisl, the deeply religious immigrant Marguerita is left alone in idyllic Bigbear Creek, among the forests of Ontario. Her daughter Marie, wanting to make sure her mother is cared for, decides to sell the family home in the wilderness after forty years and move Marguerita to the neighboring “Sunshine Home” retirement residence in town. Marguerita gives in to her daughter’s wishes, as the family is soon due to take a trip to Rome that they have been planning for decades. But the constantly stressed and worried Marie says there is no time for it and puts her mother off until her eightieth birthday. Marguerita, who wants to confess a youthful indiscretion to Benedict XVI in Rome, will not be deterred from her goal and secretly sets off for the airport and Italy in the middle of the night. Once there, she stays with her granddaughter Martina, who had originally traveled to the Italian capital as an au pair for a devoutly Catholic family, but now lives with her boyfriend, the rock musician Silvio, and works nights in a bar. At first Marguerita is horrified by Martina’s way of life, but she adjusts to the circumstances and finds an ally in her granddaughter, who, like her grandmother, constantly feels patronized by Marie. At the general audience at the Vatican that she has been trying to attend, Marguerita runs into the crook Lorenzo, who had earlier pretended to be blind in order to win himself a private audience with the Pope over a lost bet. Furious at his lie, she pulls out her pepper spray and accidentally gets Benedict XVI in the eyes. Marguerita is arrested and taken to the police, but Lorenzo manages to convince them of her innocence with a made-up story. She is then released. Meanwhile, Marie happens to follow the events in Rome on Canadian television and promptly decides to pack her bags and bring her mother home. Lorenzo, meanwhile, realizes that Marguerita’s Bavarian cooking is helping his nephew Dino’s “Lieselottas Taverna Bavarese” become successful again, and promises her that he will still get her to the Pope, provided she agrees to keep helping Dino. Marguerita agrees, but when she and Lorenzo, dressed in a wedding suit and gown as “Sposi Novelli”—newlyweds—are about to receive the papal blessing, she is overcome by guilt and bolts at the last second. Meanwhile, Martina catches Silvio having sex with a colleague. She is devastated and seeks comfort in her mother’s arms, who has by then arrived in Rome. Faced with the chaotic situation, Marie orders her mother and daughter to fly back to Canada with her immediately. Marguerita, who wants to make her own choices in life, first puts Marie in her place, but then makes up with her. She then confesses that she is seeking forgiveness in Rome because she has kept from Marie the fact that she is not Loisl’s biological daughter, but was conceived during a one-night stand with an Italian musician. Marie runs out into the night, overcome with grief. Martina eventually finds her and persuades her to forgive Marguerita, who is still deeply troubled by the lie she has lived. In the meantime, Lorenzo uses his contacts in the Church to get Marguerita into the Vatican as a cook for the Pope and his entourage. Marie and Martina help her make Kaiserschmarrn for 100 guests, after which Marguerita can finally receive Benedict XVI’s blessing. Instead of returning to Canada, Marguerita and Martina decide to stay in Rome. Marie agrees, and is surprised by her husband Joe before she leaves for home. Marguerita and Lorenzo also make up and set off together on Lorenzo’s Vespa in the direction of Munich.