Conclave Review: Ralph Fiennes Leads A Satisfying, Mature Thriller Set Inside The Vatican

A Roman Catholic friend of mine once explained that the Church was one of the only major organizations on the planet to think in terms of centuries. When new ideas for how to update the liturgy are proposed by the public, he explained, the Catholic Church will wait several decades to see if the idea has any actual staying power. He then expressed a great deal of frustration with the slow-walking bureaucracy of the Vatican, saying that most world governments are Olympic sprinters in comparison. 

Edward Berger's new potboiler "Conclave" is a tightly wound bureaucratic fantasy about an open-minded Catholic Church that longs to be more progressive, and that aches to make palpable, swift, sweeping changes. It's not the bureaucracy slowing down the Church in "Conclave," but shadowy conspiracies involving back-stabbing cardinals and their attempts to keep their sins secret. "Conclave" also, like an episode of "Law & Order," effectively condenses a lugubrious, complex process — in this case, the overtly political election a new Pope — into an easily digestible, time-efficient plot. 

Berger and his screenwriter Peter Straughan, adapting the 2016 airport novel by Robert Harris, presented their story as a simple checklist, presenting multiple candidates for the Papacy, and then investigating each one to see how they may or may not be worthy of the title. Although it doesn't possess the hard-boiled, shifty-eyed salaciousness of a traditional whodunnit, "Conclave" is certainly in the spirit of a private investigator story. Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) plays the ersatz detective, and while he's not investigating a proper murder — "Conclave" is only rated PG — there are still overwhelming stakes to his investigations. The future of the Church hangs in the balance, as and most of the Cardinals would love to see it become a warmer, more welcoming body, and not a homophobic hate group. 

"Conclave" presents a world where shady Cardinals have to blackmail one another, lie about their pasts, and carefully manipulate the Church in order to keep it as conservative as it had been in the past. If left alone, the film argues, the Catholic Church would almost instantly evolve into a forward-thinking, widely welcomed faith force. That's an admirable thought.

"Conclave" begins with the death of the (fictional) Pope, and audiences are immediately drawn into the Byzantine traditions and religious processes that it entails. It's a world of robes, ribbons, seals, and scrolls, each presented with meticulous, aesthetic rigor. Cardinal Lawrence has been put in charge of the upcoming election to choose a new Pope, and the process is fraught. There are several frontrunners for the positions:

There's Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), the odds-on favorite, which fills Lawrence with consternation, as he aims to take the Church back to being more "traditional"; that is: hateful and exclusive. Lawrence would prefer the gentle and progressive Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci), but Bellini insists he doesn't want the job. Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) has said some distressing things about gay people, and might also have a dark secret. Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow) is confident to the point of arrogance ... and might also have a dark secret. And then there's the mysterious Dark Horse, the very young Cardinal Benitz (Carlos Diehz) who has an unclear but direct relationship to the deceased Pope. 

Because the cardinals are to be cloistered when they vote, finding information on each candidate proves difficult for Lawrence, and several characters may be taking advantage of their isolation to keep some secrets hidden. Isabella Rossellini plays a nun who might know something about at least one of the above Cardinals. 

"Conclave" is full of secrets and conspiracies, but mercifully never approaches Dan Brown levels of dumb ridiculousness. There will be no code-cracking or delving into tombs in "Conclave" (although there is a plot point involving a secret compartment inside a bed frame). Instead, Berger ("All Quiet on the Western Front") presents his film with maturity and with staid, good manners, taking the Church seriously as a modern bureaucracy. The Catholic Church in "Conclave" is merely an office, replete with the same petty interoffice politics and secretly shared grievances one might see in any business. Churches may be arranged to guide their congregations toward ostensibly richer spiritual journeys, but someone has to order toilet paper. 

"Conclave," in turning the Catholic Church into a mere workplace, lets the film's politics take the foreground. Berger has essentially made a political thriller about how conservatives will cling on to power by whatever means necessary, but that they will need to be defeated in order for progress to occur. Berger wears his ideas on his sleeve in this regard.

Not everyone will be pleased with the ending of "Conclave," and it will be frustrating to discuss in a review, as I daren't give any spoilers. Without revealing who ultimately gets elected, it will be revealed that the winner might still have a secret no one was previously aware of. But then, once the truth is revealed, any sense of guilt or secrecy is immediately shunned; there would only be shame if the Church allowed the truth to be shameful. On at least one level, the final revelation is stirringly progressive, and lets the filmmakers live in the above-mentioned fantasy wherein the Catholic Church takes bold steps forward on purpose. 

Others, however, may find the final twist to be clunky and sensational in a film that, up until that point, managed to remain mature and classy. One can, at the very least, give Berger credit for at least trying to move the mountain, if only cinematically. 

/Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

"Conclave" opens in theaters on October 25, 2024.