A moment of filming, with, on the right, the director Paolo Damosso
«No one is completely good or completely bad, we are all lights and shadows. A lot depends on the situations we find ourselves in.” The actress Beatrice Fazi plays mother Marcellina in the film One Hundred Heartswhich tells the life of Blessed Clelia Merloni (1961-1930), founder of the Institute of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And the Sacred Heart, the pillar of mother Clelia’s faith, is the focus of Pope Francis’ latest encyclical, He loved us. «In it we find the synthesis of mother Clelia’s thought and life. In the heart of Christ she learns to love, in the heart of Christ she learns to overcome the hatred and selfishness she suffers, in the heart of Christ she learns to manage disappointment”, explains Paolo Damosso, author, director and screenwriter of the film, produced from Fogo Multimedia.
Released first on TV2000, and then on various international broadcasters, it has been visible on YouTube for three months, as well as in Italian, also in Spanish and Portuguese. And the English version is coming soon. «The viewing numbers are crazy» says Damosso. «Fifty thousand for the film in Italian and with the foreign versions we reach around 630 thousand. It means we won the challenge. This film, of Italian production and performed by Italian actors, aimed to speak to the world, and therefore to different sensitivities. It was possible because the congregation of the Apostles has a profoundly international vocation. And above all because mother Clelia’s language is universal, in her values and in her example.” SIt deals with the story of the last thirty years (from the end of 1800 to 1930) of mother Clelia’s life; in parallel, and constantly intertwined, there is a “mystery” that takes place in a modern-day high school and which concerns the teaching staff. The two stories become increasingly closer from a value and emotional point of view, to the point of almost interpenetration. It means that eras change, clothes change, settings, formal habits change, but human beings continue to ask themselves the same questions, to have the same fragilities, the same selfishness, the same impulses. Two stories, one cast, with leading names, including: Silvia Budri (mother Clelia), Massimo Bonetti, Alessandra Costanzo, Remo Girone, Giancarlo Ratti, Pamela Villoresi. Beatrice Fazi represents the antagonist in both stories. In the one set in the time of mother Clelia, she is mother Marcellina; in the one set in the present day she is professor Sandra Proietti. Two women who, out of envy, make mistakes. «I was able to understand mother Marcellina well, because in my work as an actress the demon of envy is always lurking. The risk is always wanting to excel, to feed one’s ego. Therefore my gaze is never judgmental, but one of understanding” says Fazi. «Mother Marcellina experiences the contradictions of those who find themselves in a role of strong responsibility. Probably, in other circumstances she would not have behaved like this. I see a great fragility in her. So the teacher, who is simply human; she sees herself surpassed in her career by a colleague loved by all, esteemed by the students, a beautiful woman with a happy marriage behind her, an affectionate father and, she, who has none of this, acts in the wrong way, without even realizing of gravity. He only understands it when faced with the consequences, and regrets it. We must not be scandalized by our humanity, but always trust in the mercy of God. The film ends with a look of mercy, the message is beautiful: forgiveness is for everyone. Mother Clelia always forgave, and this makes her so precious that it makes you want to be like her.”
Blessed Clelia Merloni, founder of the Institute of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
«We really wanted this film, to spread the story of our founder, who was ahead of her time, and who continues to speak to the men and women of today: her efforts, her beliefs, her values remain a keystone for us too” mother underlines Miriam Cunha Sobrinha, superior general of the Congregation. «I and some sisters actively participated in the film, sewing period dresses, but also impersonating the Apostles of the past, and opening the doors to the places where Mother Clelia lived, such as her bedroom». A film “blessed” by “God-incidences”. «When I stepped into mother Clelia’s shoes for the first time it was April 21st, the same day on which my mother had died years before» confides Silvia Budri. «A great emotion, which was further amplified when upon my arrival, the sisters welcomed me, hugging me one by one, and whispering in my ear: welcome back Mother Clelia!».
