This article contains spoiler content.
Conclave is not a film that should work all that well. Most people probably don’t have that much interest in the inner workings of the selection of a new pope. And even if you did, one would expect it to live in the realms of smaller melodrama like HBO’s The Young Pope, or HBO’s The New Pope or Netflix’s The Two Popes. The film’s director’s (Edward Berger) latest, the award show’s darling All Quiet on the Western Front, was a gruelling WW1 epic that while technically impressive, didn’t do much on an interpersonal level. So I was not expecting Conclave to be one of the most fun times I had with a film the whole year.
The film follows Cardinal Lawrence, played by an on-fire Ralph Fiennes, the dean of the College of Cardinals, who must oversee the election of a new head of the Catholic Church by forming the titular conclave after the current pope dies of a heart attack. The four main contenders for the role are the American Aldo Bellini (Stanley Tucci), the Nigerian Joshua Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), the Canadian Joseph Tremblay (John Lithgow), and the Italian traditionalist Goffredo Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto). Scandal and intrigue ensues and spirals delightfully.
Each of the Cardinals is a genuinely compelling character, with their own defined personality and set of clashing political and ideological values. If you have seen anything from this film you might have seen Cardinal Tedesco absolutely ripping into his vape, which is very funny but also representative of his character. He’s an incredibly entertaining presence, Sergio Castellitto portrays him with such charisma, but at the same time, his incredibly troubling and regressive politics stop you from rooting for him for even a minute.
Most of the characters in the film have this sort of double bind about them. As events move on, even the very likeable Bellini, who you want to root for because he’s played by Stanley Tucci, becomes a less appealing option.
The fact that I found myself even thinking about this sort of thing is impressive. The screenplay is so propulsive and involving that I genuinely found myself rooting for various papal candidates. The performances all work towards this too, of course. Fiennes is firing on all cylinders here, really gunning for that long awaited Oscar without falling into the normal Oscar-y acting traps (he’s still not pretending he’s the pope on the press circuit or anything). All of the supporting cast is probably not quite as good but there’s not a dud performance in the whole thing. The more unlikable performances align with the more unlikable Cardinals, so no problem.
Isabella Rosselini is a particular shining light in the supporting cast. Despite the fact she has maybe 5 minutes of screen-time, she completely steals the show as Sister Agnes, a figure Cardinal Lawrence goes to for information about one of the film’s puddle of twists. She netted herself a Best Supporting Actress nomination for it and, although she certainly won’t, I’d be tempted to say she deserves to win.
The plot brings with it twist after twist. You can see a version of this where this gets tiresome – surely not every papal candidate would have some kind of shocking backstory – but somehow this film just has the convictions to pull it off. Each feels hefty and important too. There is a moment where someone bombs the Vatican and the personal revelations about the characters still feel like the weightiest events.
The film is also very technically well put together. There are some great shots, one specific shot of the Cardinals moving through a courtyard has stuck in my head since I watched it just because it looks so pleasing. While the visuals are sometimes not the most interesting (I will be the first to admit there are a lot of hallways to look at here), the film is shot with enough gloss and charged with enough intrigue to make the less than riveting locations more than tolerable.
I would not argue Conclave is a perfect film. At the end of the day it doesn’t have much of anything to say, doesn’t push any boundaries, or show you anything new. But it is one of the most fun thrillers I’ve seen in a while. It takes what should be a fairly dour affair and runs with it to deliver the best version of this there could be. What other film could leave me thinking about who my favourite cardinals were?
