Conclave Ralph Fiennes stars

Conclave Review

It’s one of the oldest, and most secretive, elections in the world, but the selection of a new Pope isn’t the most dramatic or cinematic of processes. All that changes when the announcement is made to the waiting faithful. It’s a simple puff of smoke from the chimney connected to the furnace where the votes are burnt: dark and murky grey means the election continues, white signifies a new pontiff. In the words of the traditional declaration, “Habemus Papam.”

At the start of Edward Berger’s Conclave, the Pope has just died, and the questions that follow create an almost imperceptible shadow over his demise. Regardless of those suspicions, a successor has to be elected and Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), regarded by His Holiness as a “good manager”, is put in charge of the conclave. Cardinals from all over the globe are locked away from the outside world until they’ve chosen the latest successor to St Peter and, while Lawrence is adamant he has no ambitions in that direction, there are others who do: the liberal Bellini (Stanley Tucci), the ultra-conservative Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) and Tremblay (John Lithgow), rumoured to be on bad terms with the previous Pope, are the leading contenders. Lawrence is repeatedly put on the spot, looking into allegations about the candidates – and the voting continues once, if not twice, a day ….

In bringing Robert Harris’ 2016 novel to the big screen, Berger crafts a thriller out of what is essentially a dry procedure in beautiful surroundings. The elements are all there and there’s enough of them to give the film the feel of a pot-boiler: the diametrically opposed characters, the surprises, the secrets. Added to the mix are debates on the place and relevance of today’s Roman Catholic Church, the politics of its particular election, and, despite those locked doors and blacked-out windows, the outside world still manages to intrude in the most dramatic of fashions. The audience is also invited to work out who will be elected but, with the answer being all-too-obvious from the moment he appears on screen, it’s not so much a question of who as how. The answer takes its time to emerge and there are moments when the narrative doesn’t quite add up but, in the main, the film is right on the money and bristles with the required amount of tension.

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That self-imposed isolation means no information is allowed out or in but, somehow, Lawrence has to play detective and get to the bottom of all the allegations and suspicions brought to his attention. It’s no easy matter, he’s reliant on others, and yet, like anybody else inside or outside the church, they’re fallible. It does, however, add to the uneasy tension, but the film as a whole is hampered by a melodramatic, shrieking score from Volker Bertlemann, which threatens to drown it. Ironically, when the music is more subdued, it is infinitely more effective. Surprisingly successful, however, is the level of humour in the script, with Tucci grabbing most of the plumb lines and milking them for all they’re worth. His “Richard Nixon of Popes” line could go down as a classic.

All the conversations surrounding the film, however, have been about Fiennes and the possibility of his first Oscar. In the run-up to the awards season, predictions swing back and forth but his performance – intense, subtle, conflicted, full of grief yet having to hide it all behind a professional mask – has every chance of making the final cut. But he also leads a classy ensemble, with Tucci on fine form as the liberal with a nose and a knack for politics and Isabella Rossellini as a senior nun, in charge of the Cardinals’ care during the conclave. Her presence is formidable, making the most of every syllable of her minimal dialogue to create the least subservient of nuns. She could easily find herself being recognized in the months to come.

A heady brew it may be at times, Conclave is an engrossing, prickly thriller that boils down to the fallibility we all share and it’s no spoiler to say that the Cardinals’ eventual choice is not perfect, but is certainly as good as he could be. As is the film.

★★★1/2

Playing as part of the BFI London Film Festival on 10th, 11th, and 16th October / In UK cinemas from 29th November / Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, Lucian Msamati, Sergio Castellitto / Dir: Edward Berger / Black Bear / 12A


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