Release Date – 29th November 2024, Cert – 12, Run-time – 2 hours, Director – Edward Berger
Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with arranging the election of a new pope, whilst trying to find someone without a hidden dark past secrets of multiple likely candidates are revealed.
Having faced the upfront horrors of war in his Oscar-winning take on All Quiet On The Western Front, Edward Berger changes course for his follow-up, observing the strong, underlying tension in trying to elect a new pope. Adapted by Peter Straughan from Robert Harris’ book of the same name the film focuses on Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) attempting to arrange the election of a new pope, what he views as perhaps his final task as a cardinal-dean after a crisis of faith.
However, finding a new pope without any black marks proves a difficult task, especially when the cardinals can’t agree on who the new leader of the Catholic church should be. Traditional conservative views clash with a continuing liberal stance in and out of the voting sessions, however tensions truly rise in the hushed conversations in the sequestered corridors. Dark pasts and controversies come to light, making Lawrence’s job all the more difficult as he himself tries to avoid election, instead pushing Stanley Tucci’s reluctant, yet fighting, Cardinal Bellini. The twists, turns and revelations are wonderfully timed and built around as the tension of the sacred process grows more and more with each conclave.
Invisible daggers fly across each room through air thick with insistence that this election has become a war. Fiennes gives a brilliant performance packed with subtle detail. Lawrence has plenty of doubts and yet still has a serious job to do, and one that the film takes completely seriously from the sombre departure of the previous pope to the very end of the run-time. A set of great supporting performances surround Fiennes, including from the likes of Lucian Msamati, John Lithgow and Sergio Castellitto; all of whom add to the clash of ideals as to the future direction of the church, and the hidden forces at play. All of which stick to the formalities at hand, making confrontations and discoveries all the louder when they occur.
Secrets, and their subsequent reveals, are allowed to naturally develop and grow, including in aforementioned hushed conversations, all wonderfully captured in the detail of the screenplay. There’s a lot at stake, both personally and within the wider scheme of the church, and there are feuding interpretations as to what this means both in the moment and for the future. All dealt with individually and yet still being allowed to come together in the suspenseful sound of names being scribbled on ballots as looks and glances shift uneasily around the room. Atmosphere as a whole is quietly built up throughout the film, working hand in hand with the escalating tension which is made so clear in the most natural way possible, communicated within the performances and the nature of the conversations rather than being forcefully shouted throughout.
Conclave works because of the establishment and understanding of just what is unfolding. The power that whoever is elected will have, and what that means for the tradition of the church and the election process as a whole. Shut off from the outside world tensions can only grow within the confines of the walls that are shared by all the cardinals. Secrets are bound to spill over, but where and who from? Everything works together to create a drama of escalating suspense as you too find yourself caught within the sequestered walls and rooms until the seemingly distant time a new pope is elected. All contributing to the subtle and highly effective workings of the film, engaging you further within a process made of unpredictable twists and turns which make the process, and the film itself, all the more grippingly fascinating.
Ralph Fiennes gives a towering yet subtle performance as a man caught in the middle of multiple tense conflicts, his quiet detail matches that of the film as Conclave makes for a suspenseful drama escalated by the sequestered confines of each bubbling interaction.
Just A Little Bit Random 