Conclave Review: Ralph Fiennes Leads A Satisfying, Mature Thriller Set Inside the VaticanA satisfying fantasy of Pope fiction
Edward Berger’s potboiler “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” 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 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” 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 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.
“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.
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.
“Conclave” is full of secrets and conspiracies, but mercifully never approaches Dan Brown levels of dumb ridiculousness. Instead, Berger 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.
“Conclave,” in turning the Catholic Church into a mere workplace, lets the film’s politics take the foreground.
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.
This is a great script and great performances
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