A gripping portrait of power and faith

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, October 25th.

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Coming next on The World and Everything in It: arts and culture editor Collin Garbarino reviews a film that imagines the interworking of one of the world’s most secretive elections.

COLLIN GARBARINO: Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, adapts Robert Harris’ 2016 novel of the same name for the screen. It’s a political movie, though not in the traditional sense, and so far it’s one of 2024’s most compelling dramas.

TREMBLY: The pope is dead. The throne is vacant.

The death of the pope naturally sends the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church into disarray. Immediately the whisper campaign begins. The church’s leadership suffers from factionalism, and everyone suspects everyone else of jockeying for position… attempting to grab the papal throne for themselves.

BELLINI: No sane man would want the papacy.

LAWRENCE: Some of our colleagues seem to want it.

A conclave of cardinals must select the new pontiff, and it falls to the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Lawrence to convene the conclave. Fiennes plays Lawrence, and he seems to be one of the few men who genuinely doesn’t want to become pope.

LAWRENCE: The conclave begins now.

Not only does Lawrence not want to be pope… he feels ill equipped for the job of running the conclave. The Catholic Church is suffering a crisis of leadership, while Lawrence is in the midst of his own personal crisis of faith. He’s a man plagued by uncertainty and doubts, but he carries on with his duties as a final favor to his old friend, the deceased pope.

MANDORFF: Another cardinal has just turned up. He was never on our list.

LAWRENCE: He has to be an imposter.

From the beginning, the conclave has an air of mystery to it. A previously unknown cardinal arrives just before Lawrence sequesters the group. The newcomer’s credentials seem legitimate, but his arrival causes a stir. While Lawrence is trying to learn what he can about this enigmatic clergyman, he also hears rumors that one of the more established cardinals shouldn’t have been admitted to the conclave, requiring even more detective work.

The various factions within the hierarchy view the election of the new pope as a pivotal moment. Lawrence pleads for unity and tolerance, but ethnic and social tensions are tearing at the conclave’s harmony. One Italian bishop wants to return the church to its conservative roots in order to defend the institution from the chaos of the contemporary world. An American cardinal argues that the church must continue the liberalizing program of the deceased pope. Another man hopes to become the church’s first African pope, while yet another embodies unrestrained ambition in his quest to attain the papacy.

BELLINI: What if I know in my heart I’m not worthy.

LAWRENCE: You are more worthy than any of us.

BELLINI: I’m not.

LAWRENCE: Well then, tell your supporters not to vote for you. Pass the chalice.

BELLINI: And let it go to him. I could never live with myself.

Conclave is being billed as a thriller. There’s no murder mystery or physical danger here, but the designation feels appropriate. Director Edward Berger, whose All Quiet on the Western Front won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in 2023, has created a taut drama filled with intrigue. Lawrence paces the halls of the Vatican searching for truth, resembling an exhausted film-noir detective more than a clergyman. The color saturated cinematography accentuates distressed Renaissance architecture, creating the feeling that this venerable institution has seen better days. The brooding, strings-heavy score by Oscar-winner Volker Bertelmann complements the visuals by imparting a sense of danger and secrecy to the film.

Also, you couldn’t ask for a better cast to wear the scarlet garments of the College of Cardinals. Lawrence’s friend Cardinal Bellini is brought to life in a multilayered performance by Stanley Tucci.

BELLINI: Am I the last?

LAWRENCE: Not quite. How are you?

BELLINI: Oh, well… you know… fairly dreadful.

All the principal characters are played by esteemed actors who bring so much gravitas, scenes begin to groan under the collective weight. Fiennes gives a performance that will no doubt put him in the conversation for an Oscar.

But what of the politics? I was impressed by how deftly the script handled the factional divide between the conservative and liberal cardinals. Lawrence’s sympathies lie with the liberal wing, and so you expect the film would offer a simplistic “liberal good and conservative bad” dichotomy. But Conclave subverts those expectations, giving viewers a more interesting and nuanced story. Very few characters avoid the ugly side of man’s political nature, where principles quickly give way to pragmatism.

LAWRENCE: This is a conclave, Aldo. It’s not a war.

BELLINI: It is a war. And you have to commit to a side!

Conclave is a satisfying psychological drama, but the script falls short in a couple of ways. First, these churchmen have surprisingly little to say about the Bible’s teachings or church tradition during their debates. Even the conservative characters seem more concerned with cultural tradition than doctrinal conviction. Wouldn’t you think there would be at least one conversation among the Cardinals about Scriptural fidelity? Second, the film ends with a plot twist that’s straight out of left field. The twist is in the book, but the film doesn’t set it up convincingly, and the audience is left with some clumsy messaging that steals some of the power from the more nuanced scenes that came before.

I’m Collin Garbarino

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