Conclave

15 years after Angels and Demons sent its viewers on a mad scavenger hunt through the Holy See, Austrian-Swiss director Edward Berger invites us to revisit the thrilling environment of papal election in his adaptation of Richard Harris’s 2016 novel Conclave – and with it the question of the Catholic Church’s future amid a progressing society.

Ralph Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence, whose position as Dean puts him in charge of summoning the conclave after the pope’s death. The most likely contenders for the vacant position (Papabiles, or as Dan Brown referred to them: preferiti) are Cardinals Bellini (Stanley Tucci), Tremblay (John Lithgow), Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) and Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati). Despite their shared faith, each of them represents a different ideology, and the required two-thirds majority vote seems out of reach.

Walking on a razor’s edge, Berger treats both the institution and the practice of faith with utmost respect, while exposing political agendas, lust for power or baser motives, that drive even ordained men. The film’s targeted interest in the goings-on behind the closed doors of the Sistine Chapel translates to a confining chamber piece, following the footsteps of claustrophobic classic 12 Angry Men. Stéphane Fontaine’s camera finds the most riveting angles to frame the clergymen in the sacred spaces that surround them, leading audiences to believe that they have been made privy to something not intended for public consumption, when in fact the film team were not granted access to real locations in the Vatican, but shot in Rome’s famous Cinecittà.

Images where tradition and modernity collide are both part of a liberating admission of human fallibility, as well as the perfect amount of humour to the lighten the tense atmosphere without toppling it.

Made up of arresting performances as far as the eye can see, Fiennes is leading the ensemble with a prodigious depiction of emotional intelligence. In what little screen time she has as Sister Agnes, Isabella Rossellini delivers both a masterclass on the power of the silent spectator and a resonating statement on the invisibility of the women of the cloth.

Even as it raises a number of important talking points about religion, Conclave peels away the frock to unveil universal objectives of coexistence in a society. With the impending presidential election of a nation on the wheel of global politics, Conclave is one of the most consequential features of the year and should not be missed.

Selina Sondermann

Conclave is released nationwide on 29^th November 2024.

Watch the trailer for Conclave here: