Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) directs Peter Straughan’s Golden Globe-winning screenplay based on Robert Harris’ 2016 novel about selecting a new pope after the current one dies unexpectedly of a heart attack. It falls upon British Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) to convene the College of Cardinals in a highly secretive and ancient event to vote in a new head of the Catholic Church. The leading candidates include liberal U.S. Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci), socially conservative Nigerian Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), moderate Canadian Cardinal Trembley (John Lithgow), and staunch traditionalist Italian Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto). Shaking up the procedure is the arrival of a heretofore unknown Mexican Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz), who was secretly made the Archbishop of Kabul, Afghanistan, the year before by the dead pope. (132 min.)
Glen: Well, we finally did it. We watched Conclave. After trying twice to see it in theaters, thwarted once by technical problems and later by lack of parking (quit parking in the New Times lot, jerks. I’m trying to get to work), it’s now streaming on Peacock. Director Ron Howard’s 2009 take on author Dan Brown’s 2000 novel Angels & Demons notwithstanding, you might not think selecting a new pope would be very exciting. A bunch of holy dudes in dresses sequester themselves away in the Vatican and vote to see which one of them will next be God’s right-hand man and the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics. In this story, it turns out the action behind the scenes is filled with intrigue, ambition, sabotage, challenges to religious dogma, and conspiracy. Cardinal Lawrence is having a crisis of faith, but he’s still responsible for cat-herding all the outsized personalities of the cardinals vying to wear the towering white mitre. Part of the struggle involves sedevacantism, the traditionalist Catholic movement that argues that the church hasn’t had a valid pope since the 1958 death of Pius XII because of the liberalization within the church. Holy power struggle, Batman!
Anna: Lawrence may be struggling with his faith, but he feels his purpose is to run this conclave, and his desire to facilitate a new pope’s confirmation doesn’t sway. He has no interest in becoming pope, but when the votes are tallied, it seems he has a few contemporaries who want to see him in the role. One of these supporters is Benitez. The mysterious cardinal who has been ministering in Kabul tells Lawrence he continues to vote for him despite Lawrence’s pleas to stop. For his part, Lawrence first supports Bellini, but soon he realizes that even his friend is letting ambition cloud his judgement. In fact, ambition and greed seem to infect the group, and Lawrence’s resolve to keep the conclave pure is shaken. Slow and simmering, this film is a peek into an unknown world for most, and a cautionary tale of what the lust for power can do to even those who claim to be sons of God.
Glen: The ending was certainly unexpected, as I haven’t read the source materials from whence it came, but it’s an absolute delight to watch the story unfold as told through this stellar cast of actors. Fiennes, Lithgow, and Tucci are masterful, as is Isabella Rossellini in a smaller yet pivotal role as Sister Agnes. Yes, all these cardinals are supposedly men of God, but they’re also flawed human beings who do wrong. The Catholic Church is such an archaic and misogynist organization. Having its foundations shaken would probably be a good thing.
Anna: I’ve heard that Megyn Kelly has a viral rant about Conclave being “anti-Catholic,” and screenplay writer Straughan responded that in fact it’s “about the church always having to re-find its spiritual core, because it deals so much with power,” and that sentiment rings true. “Good” versus “bad” gets muddy quickly, and being pious cannot be divorced from the trappings that come with the business of God. This film absolutely deserved the accolades it’s received.
New Times Arts Editor Glen Starkey and freelancer Anna Starkey write Sun Screen. Comment at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jan 16-26, 2025.