Movie Review – Conclave
Principal Cast : Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, Isabella Rossellini, Lucian Msamati, Carlos Diehz, Brian F O’Byrne, Merab Ninidze, Thomas Loibl, Jacek Koman, Loris Loddi, Balkissa Maiga.
Synopsis: When Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with leading one of the world’s most secretive and ancient events, selecting a new Pope, he finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could shake the very foundation of the Catholic Church.
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Has there ever been, in the whole of human history, an organisation that has provoked such mystery, provided so much conspiracy fodder, or elicited so much literary fan-fiction as the Catholic Church? You can keep your Freemasons and Illuminati, you can kick your Knights Templar to the curb, and both SPECTRE, Hydra and the Black Hand can all get in the bin: the undisputed champion of secret societies and mysterious organisations has to be the organised religious church of Catholicism, and more specifically anything surrounding the Papacy and Vatican City. The church has been the backdrop for some of the most memorable fictionalised accounts in cinema history – from William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, Dan Brown’s Demons & Angels, and even dramatic works like The Two Popes or even Michael Anderson’s 1968 drama The Shoes of The Fisherman, not to mention the countless B-movie plots involving various Catholic myth-expansion from which we get the likes of The Devil’s Advocate, Rosemary’s Baby or The Vatican Tapes. Yes, few organisations with the expansive history and power as the Vatican, the center of the Catholic faith for millions around the globe, is arguably the one most opaque to us all when it comes to its inner workings. Edward Berger’s Conclave, set during a time of great upheaval for the Vatican, is a slow-burn thriller encapsulating the furtive and bureaucratic secrecy around the selection of a new Pope, and is led by a terrific top-line cast including Ralph Fiennes. The film trades heavily on that sense of being given a peek behind a curtain we ought not to be seeing, unwrapping both the problems of the modern church and the behemoth-like historical precedence of such an election that spans the millennia, so much so that the profound weight of the film’s tone elevates the rather turgid nature of what it’s depicting.
Plot synopsis courtesy Wikipedia: The film’s story unfolds during the secretive selection of a new Pope following the sudden death of the reigning pontiff. Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with overseeing the conclave amidst growing intrigue. The process, held within the Sistine Chapel inside Vatican City, reveals simmering tensions and hidden agendas among the cardinals, including the liberal Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci), the socially conservative Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castelitto), and the staunchly reactionary Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow). Isabella Rossellini adds intrigue as Sister Agnes, whose insights shed light on the power struggles within. As scandals surface and an unexpected candidate emerges, the conclave becomes a gripping battle of faith, morality, and ambition, culminating in revelations that could shake the Church’s very foundation.
Based on Robert Harris’ 2016 book of the same name, Conclave’s Vatican-set sense of history is supremely elicited thanks largely to some remarkable production values, including a number of incredible sets (notably, the Sistine Chapel and various accommodation locations within the walled city) and location photography in some of Rome’s most popular landmarks. The Vatican has a strict policy of never allowing film productions to shoot anywhere within the city, so at no point to do we ever see footage shot within the famous St Peter’s Basilica, or the real Sistine Chapel, or the real Piazza San Pietro, both rather the production replicates a lot of these elements using alternative locations and studio-built sets. The sense of occasion the film arises in the viewer is half the battle – how do you make a bunch of Catholic Cardinals voting for a new pope via an ancient process involving burning paper and arguing about numbers even vaguely interesting, particularly in an election year? Frankly, Berger and his amazing production team, together with a terrific adapted screenplay from Peter Straughan, weave a remarkably tense, often breathless dramatic thriller that’s low-key (as you’d expect in the Vatican) and yet white-knuckle with expectation, backed up by an astounding cast doing solid work.
Ralph Fiennes is the lynchpin of the whole thing, as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, a man of questioning faith who finds himself in the unenviable position of having to wrangle a lot of factionalised clergy into what the Vatican calls the “conclave”, a period of voluntary seclusion through which votes are cast to select a new Pope, and while this might be easy to read (and say), the doing of it, as it with most things undertaken by man, far more complicated. Fiennes’ Lawrence is questioning his own faith, and prior to the passing of the previous Pope had requested approval for his own resignation, something the Holy Father had rejected. The Holy Father had done a lot of other things too, things unwrapping like a Dan Brown novel as Fiennes’ Lawrence begins to corral the competing factions of Cardinals under one roof. Frankly, Fiennes carries the film entirely, the weight of Catholics everywhere resting on his slumped shoulders and exasperated conversations, and as shock and surprises start to occur within the sequestration of the Cardinals, including surprise former girlfriends, bombs exploding and an appearance by a number of turtles, not to mention hermaphroditism (yes, you read that correctly), Conclave weaves a magical spell upon the viewer that takes you on a compelling journey. It’s rare that a film makes you think in order to propel its own narrative, but Conclave does just that.
Fiennes is backed up by the exquisite work of Stanley Tucci, a far more liberal Cardinal than many of his associates, and the actor is note-perfect in his performance as Aldo Bellini, one of the frontrunners for the Papacy. Alongside him is the wide-eyed “who, me?” antics of an excellent John Lithgow, another Papal frontrunner, Cardinal Tremblay, while Sergio Castellitto is a firebrand of passion and conservatism in the form of Cardinal Tedesco, perhaps the least wanted to fill the void, but arguably the one with the most strident voice among the group. For some reason Isabella Rossellini appears in a wasted role of one of the Vatican nuns, Sister Agnes, a part that had me salivating but ultimately unfulfilled when I saw her face pop up – which is a central criticism of the film overall, in that it, like the Vatican itself, can’t seem to find a place for women with any agency, within it. I found the way the role of Sister Agnes was presented initially, I thought her actions within the film would be more substantial than what it ended up being. Given the stance of the Church around women in any kind of leadership role, the fact that Conclave is a massive sausage-fest isn’t surprising, but I did find it disappointing the few female roles within the film weren’t given some deeper consideration. And asking Rossellini to take such a trivial part feels more like stunt-casting for the sake of itself. Also, on a brief, somewhat unrelated note, it was great to see my favourite narcoleptic Argentinian from the Moulin Rouge, Jacek Koman, in a supporting role.
Conclave is a tremendously entertaining way to kill a couple of hours. While there’s no “bad guy” to speak of, human conflict is always engaging and there’s a lot of it within this film. The cast are all excellent, the production design, costuming and cinematography are often breathtaking, and Edward Berger’s direction is first-rate. Okay, there’s not a lot of violence in this one, and the tension is derived from dramatic weight and the sense of historical impact the decisions within the narrative carry by design, so some might find it “boring” or “slow”, but for the rest of us prepared to engage our brains a bit, Conclave has some significant entertainment value. Recommended as one to watch, even if the subject matter might seem as interesting as watching paint dry.
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