Welcome to another entry in the Oscar Film Journal - hey this one's a current nominee!
The Pope dies. The Dean of the College of Cardinals must oversee the election of a new Pope, and somehow remain impartial and sequestered with the other Cardinals, while also taking into account any information that might disqualify a particular candidate, including dirty secrets the previous Pope may have kept hidden. Such is the dilemma facing Thomas Lawrence in Edward Berger's followup to his superb All Quiet on the Western Front, a mystery thriller entitled Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini.
Fiennes' Dean Lawrence is racked with religious doubt and has been for a long time, having previously asked to be reassigned and been denied by the late Pope. At the same time he states publicly to the College of Cardinals that doubt is a quality all who aspire to be elected to the Papacy should possess. For without doubt of course, there can be no faith, and with certainty lies arrogance. Lawrence backs a liberal Cardinal named Bellini (Stanley Tucci), who wears his political ideology on his sleeve and is thus met with much resistance from the other College kliqs. Bellini doesn't even want to be Pope, which of course makes him an ideal candidate. His opposite number is a hardline traditionalist named Tedesco, who thinks the Latin liturgy should be brought back and there should be a zero-tolerance policy for other religions, and vehemently opposes the idea of a black Pope (in this case a third candidate named Adeyemi). After numerous unsuccessful votes (a two-thirds majority is required to elect), it looks like a centrist named Tremblay (John Lithgow) may be the frontrunner, but it's been brought to Lawrence's attention that the previous Pope may have demanded Tremblay resign, for unknown reasons.
If all this backstage politicking sounds familiar, I think it probably should. It's almost a microcosm of the ugly dealings involved in both US Presidential elections and the process of Congress selecting a Speaker of the House. The parallels are actually quite direct; each candidate has their little sect of support, Bellini is chastised for making his beliefs so plain, Lawrence urges his own supporters to vote for someone else, lest Tedesco win out over a divided liberal front, Adeyemi may have a skeleton in his closet that would block his nomination, etc.
Edward Berger and his collaborators, in particular screenwriter Peter Straughan and cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine take what could've been a dry political procedural and imbue it with crackling life, making Conclave a fairly gripping thriller about a flawed man burdened with too much unpleasant information. The script is taut and powerful, the visuals are angular and dripping with vibrant color.
But Ralph Fiennes really carries the film, delivering one of his best performances to date. Lawrence is at all times just barely holding it together in public while on the verge of a breakdown in private.
This film is rated PG as there is no overt violence and not much in the way of explicit language, and yet there is a political violence at play that makes the film much more intense that it would seem on the surface. These are power-hungry, unpleasant people jockeying for position and ready to do just about anything to be in control and implement their beliefs on others. Just like in politics.
I give Conclave ***1/2 out of ****.
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