Movie Review: ‘Conclave’

Ralph Fiennes is superb as the cardinal who must oversee the election of a new Pope, an event that fills the Vatican with intrigue, deceit, and betrayal.

Ralph Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence in director Edward Berger's 'Conclave', a Focus Features release. Credit: Philippe Antonello/Focus Features ©2024 All Rights Reserved.

Opening in theaters October 25th is ‘Conclave,’ directed by Edward Berger and starring Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini, Brian F. O’Byrne, Sergio Castellitto, and Carlos Diehz.

Initial Thoughts

Ralph Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence in director Edward Berger's 'Conclave', a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 All Rights Reserved.

If Eon Productions can somehow lure Edward Berger – the German director of 2022’s devastating ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ and now ‘Conclave’ – to direct the next James Bond film, they can have my money now. Between the brutal scope of ‘All Quiet’ and the cerebral thrills of this new Vatican-set suspense drama, Berger has effectively shown his ability to bring intelligence, visual acumen, and narrative coherence to two wildly different genres – although one could argue that ‘Conclave’ is also about war, just played out on a different front.

The process of choosing a new Pope, a ritual shrouded in antiquity and mystery, is revealed in Berger’s absorbing film to be anything but holy. As various cardinals jockey for power and position themselves for the post, with conspiracies and scandals erupting left and right, ‘Conclave’ brilliantly demonstrates that even the alleged holiest of men – and yes, it’s all men – can be as petty, vain, and spiteful as anyone else. And it’s impressive how Berger shrouds all the pomp and circumstance in the cinematic equivalent of a paperback beach read.

Story and Direction

(L to R) Director Edward Berger and actor Ralph Fiennes on the set of 'Conclave', a Focus Features release. Credit: Philippe Antonello/Focus Features ©2024 All Rights Reserved.

Following the sudden death of the Pope, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), as Dean of the College of Cardinals, must assemble the conclave of cardinals who will elect the pontiff’s successor. Even as the cardinals are still arriving at the Vatican from all over the world, camps form around certain candidates. Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci) is the liberal, forward-thinking progressive from America; Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow) of Canada, already in the Vatican as an advisor to the Pope, is more of a moderate; Nigeria’s Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) is conservative and fiercely anti-homosexual, but could break new ground as the first African Pope; and Venice’s Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) is even more reactionary and seemingly determined to drag the Church back to the Middle Ages.

Once all the Cardinals are convened – including the mysterious, ethereal Cardinal Benitez of Kabul (Carlos Diehz), whose very existence was apparently known only to the late Pope before his unexpected arrival – they are sealed off from the outside world to begin voting. Almost immediately, scandalous information begins to emerge and shake up the voting process: Lawrence is informed that Tremblay was asked to resign by the Pope the evening before the latter’s death over an unknown matter, while a figure from Adeyemi’s past shows up and threatens to upend even his position as Cardinal. As round after round of anonymous voting continues, even Lawrence – who backs Bellini – starts to accrue votes, making Bellini and others suspicious that he really wants the job for himself. Everyone is revealed to have secrets – even the nuns, led by the fierce Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini), who are there to serve the Cardinals but act as a silent force amidst the proceedings.

Isabella Rossellini stars as Sister Agnes in director Edward Berger's 'Conclave', a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 All Rights Reserved.

As all this plays out across production designer Suzie Davies’ sumptuous recreations of the Vatican, including the Casa Santa Maria and the Sistine Chapel, the supposedly spiritual nature of the proceedings peels away like a mask, revealing the political machinations, petty jealousies, hidden histories, and potentially corrupt ambitions that lie beneath. Each of the major cardinals – both those actively seeking the papacy and those who claim they don’t want it – strategizes against the others, while Lawrence strains to keep order even as he is forced to reveal certain information that could affect the outcome of the election and even his own position.

Berger stages and paces it all like a spy thriller, with whispered confessions, clandestine meetings, and shocking revelations, but minus of course the car chases, bone-crunching fisticuffs, and explosive shoot-outs. There is also a nice seasoning of humor – served up dry by Fiennes in particular – that punctuates the somber proceedings here and there. Yet the film still builds up a palpable aura of suspense as it reveals the human failings that lie at the heart of one of the world’s oldest and most secretive institutions. While some of the Church’s own failings – like its inability to deal in real-life with a seemingly never-ending stream of sexual abuse scandals – are glossed over here and one late-in-the-game twist isn’t quite fleshed out enough to have the impact it should, ‘Conclave’ is nevertheless absorbing from start to finish.

The Cast

(L to R) Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence and Stanley Tucci as Cardinal Bellini in director Edward Berger's 'Conclave', a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 All Rights Reserved.

‘Conclave’ offers up the model of a fantastic ensemble cast, led by the great Ralph Fiennes in one of his finest performances ever. When we meet him, Cardinal Lawrence is a man already deep into a crisis of faith, unsure of whether he even wants to remain a cardinal and reluctant to supervise the conclave and the election. His doubts about his own faith mirror that of the late Pope, and the more that Lawrence is burdened with, the more you can see in Fiennes’ eyes and manner how disillusioned he becomes. And yet something within him remains aligned with his God, and a speech he gives to the conclave halfway through makes it clear that in many ways he’s well-suited to the papacy he rejects. Fiennes is simply brilliant in the role as a man struggling to retain his composure and spirituality in a situation that tests them relentlessly.

“The men who are most dangerous are the men who want it” is a theme that echoes through this film, and all the other “men who want it” – Lithgow, Tucci, Castellitto, and Msamati – bring their vain, ambitious characters to life in deft strokes, with Tucci especially superb in portraying the subtly manipulative Bellini. New actor Carlos Diehz, in his first major motion picture, also brings a serenity to Cardinal Benitez that makes an impression despite the character’s tricky placement in the narrative. And of course there’s Isabella Rossellini, who is a portrait of strength, courage, and implacability as the head of the nuns who are there to silently support the conclave – a woman who nevertheless speaks volumes every time she opens her mouth.

Final Thoughts

(L to R) Brían F. O'Byrne as Cardinal O'Malley and Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence in director Edward Berger's 'Conclave', a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 All Rights Reserved.

We can expect ‘Conclave’ to be part of the Oscars conversation this season, even if it’s not quite as award-friendly as Berger’s ‘All Quiet on the Western Front.’ But nominations for best picture, best actor (Fiennes), best supporting actor (Tucci), cinematography, editing, costume design, and production design all seem like they’d be in the mix, with Berger and Rossellini also possible contenders depending on the strength of their categories. All would be well-deserved: this is in many ways big studio filmmaking of a classic vintage.

As we noted earlier, ‘Conclave’ doesn’t address the real-world issues and conflicts that face the Church as it trundles uncertainly into the 21st century, its mission and reason for existence very much in flux. This is, when it comes down to it, a political thriller cloaked in the pageantry and mystery of a vast, murky religious edifice. But Peter Straughan’s screenplay (from the novel by Robert Harris) and Berger’s sure-handed, meat-and-potatoes direction – which suits this material as effectively as his more stylized work on ‘All Quiet’ – reveal that there’s much more going on under the surface, and that even an institution that claims to be operating at the behest of its God is still privy to the will, whims, and weakness of man.

‘Conclave’ receives 9 out of 10 stars.

What is the plot of ‘Conclave’?

When the Pope dies, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with organizing the conclave to elect his successor. But a secret kept by the late Pope, as well as machinations by some of the other cardinals, threatens the process and the papacy.