Thursday, February 13, 2025

Movie Review: ‘Conclave’ is Not to Be Taken Seriously


Director: Edward Berger
Writer: Peter Straughan
Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow

Synopsis: After the unexpected death of the Pope, Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with managing the covert and ancient ritual of electing a new one. Sequestered in the Vatican with the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders until the process is complete, Lawrence finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could lead to its downfall.


If critics and audiences were meant to judge a film by the number of harsh, booming cello strums that made up its score, then it would be safe to call Edward Berger’s Conclave the most propulsive thriller of the year, if not the decade. Volker Bertelmann’s composition, much like his Oscar-winning work for Berger’s 2022 film All Quiet on the Western Front, maintains a dominant, almost overwhelming grip on Conclave from its beginning moments, those centering on an anxious, biretta-clutching Thomas Lawrence (a restrained, excellent Ralph Fiennes) as he hastily trudges in the direction of responsibility. Each time the dean of the College of Cardinals tightens his grip on said cap, cue the orchestra. When he learns of a new nugget of deception and/or papal malfeasance, prepare for an onslaught of da na nums. It’s not exactly subtle, but then again, Conclave doesn’t seem to be particularly interested in keeping things enigmatic. It’s too busy taking itself far too seriously; we should do the opposite.

Conclave movie ending: Is this Oscar favorite's twist honorable, offensive,  or ridiculous?

Adapted by Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) from Robert Harris’ 2016 novel of the same name, it’s not that Conclave suffers under the weight of its dramatic ambitions. In fact, that it is unaware of its ridiculousness might make it a stronger effort. It begins with the death of the current pope, an incident that is almost immediately followed by the necessary election of a new one. The task is to be met with deliberate haste, seeing that the longer the citizens of Vatican City go without seeing red smoke billow from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney, the more restless they become. Given this prologue, it appears as though Conclave is tipping its tonal hand from the top, telling its audience that the ensuing events are bound to make up a grave, dire affair. After all, Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci) is modestly devastated, wishing he and the Holy Father had been able to finish their final game of chess before his passing; Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow), the last person to meet with the Holy Father, is noticeably anxious; Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) is a bit too calm given what’s just occurred; and Cardinal Wozniak (Jacek Koman) is inconsolable, his drinking having increased in recent days due to some unspoken grievance, yet reaching its tipping point after his leader’s death.

‘Conclave’ | Anatomy of a Scene

But then the remaining members of the College of Cardinals descend upon the Vatican, and the film’s ideas come into focus. The conclave, which Lawrence is tasked with overseeing as the college’s dean, is nothing more than a cliquey mish-mash of rivaling personalities and power-hungry socialites, the likes of which you’d see inside a high school cafeteria (a setting Berger and production designer Suzie Davies (Saltburn) clearly understand, given how often the films dramatics unfold within the Cardinals own dining hall). One of the more outspoken members of the college, the vape-ripping Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto, feasting on a relatively minor role), is one of the few to make his intentions clear: He wants to win the election, a notion that concerns Lawrence and Bellini, the latter of which many fellow Cardinals wish would long for the throne a bit more. Yet as he says early on in the film, “No sane man would want the papacy.” If only he were aware how few sane men would end up in the room where it happens, something only Sister Agnes (an underused Isabella Rossellini) seems to grasp, despite her relative silence.

Cue Berger’s blatant directorial flair, the same quality that infused All Quiet on the Western Front with a quality of dull inevitability yet makes Conclave that much more intentional and entertaining in equal measure. When we eventually arrive at the first vote, cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine’s camera trains its focus on the four candidates Berger wishes to place an emphasis on prior to the start of the election. You need not wonder why, as to single out Adeyemi, Bellini, Tedesco, and Tremblay is to make the film’s motivations that much clearer than they have already become: Should nothing untoward occur, one of these men will be the next pope, receiving the necessary majority of 72 votes from their peers and/or competitors. Of course, plenty of untowardness must be afoot for this to be anything more than a pulpy Eastern European rendition of a C-SPAN broadcast, which leads to Lawrence’s role as political intrigue traffic cop. He excels with the duty despite enduring his own crisis of faith in the church as an institution; perhaps he’d rather play Gossip God than the man Himself.

Is 'Conclave' a true story? We fact check the book turned movie

Somehow, the biggest curveball Lawrence stares down comes in the form of Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz), the self-proclaimed representative from the ministry of Kabul who arrives for the election out of nowhere. The present Cardinals plead legitimate ignorance to his existence, let alone his involvement in the proceedings itself, as he was appointed without their knowledge by the late Holy Father through a process known as “creation in pectore.” The true nature of Benitez’s presence (and, better yet, his past) is too mind-boggling to spoil, but it’s in this borderline-ham-handed execution that Conclave is at its most successful. Berger’s popcorny papal “thriller,” if it can be reduced to such genre conventions, may decidedly view itself as an urgent drama of cinematic note, but wouldn’t audiences rather see the tale of pretentious, ambitious popes participating in an election play out in this grand fashion as opposed to viewing a film that fails to understand its shallowness? 

Farcical and twisty – not to mention necessarily-confined to a single location so as to mute any noise from the outside, a quality that gives Conclave the vibes of Big Brother by way of Dan Brown – Berger has a silly, self-important hit on his hands. The only word in that sentence that anyone should care about, including the director and his producers, is “hit.” Leave the rest for the popes who feel the need to convince themselves of their own import. 

Grade: B

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