Conclave
Edward Berger announced his presence as a director in his 2023 adaptation of Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. This first-ever German version of the classic war story won a swag of awards, including four Oscars, but despite this tremendous success it could be argued the film lost its way trying to pull back from the intense psychological focus of the novel to give a ‘big picture’ view of the First World War.
In Conclave, Berger has taken the opposite approach, and given us a masterful, claustrophobic portrait of the Vatican as it works to elect a new Pope. Ralph Fiennes is front and centre as Thomas Lawrence, the cardinal given the responsibility for managing the gathering of his colleagues from all over the world, that will select one of their number as God’s representative on earth.
The conclave (lit. ‘with key’) sees 121 cardinals sequestered behind closed doors, accommodated in the Vatican apartments, eating in a central dining hall, meeting in the Sistine Chapel every day to cast their votes until a new Pope is chosen. The setting allows Berger to include a shot of Lawrence in front of Michelangelo’s Last Judgement.
Based on a novel by Robert Harris, a writer of skilful historical thrillers, the story takes us deeply into the personalities of the men competing for the top job. It’s a tale of intrigue and duplicity, as these fathers of the Church reveal themselves to be as opportunistic as any politician.
We begin with Lawrence being summoned to the chambers of the old Pope, who is already dead. A liberal and a reformer, the Pope has left a legacy that remains sacred to his closest associates. As the story progresses, the late Pope will continue to exert a powerful influence on proceedings as his acolytes discover he distrusted everybody and took an active interest in who would be his successor. The dead Pope is never named, but he bears a suspicious resemblance to the current Pope Francis.
Lawrence, who has been struggling with his prayers, had asked the Pope if he could resign from his post. In refusing permission, the Pontiff told him that some were shepherds, others were managers, and he was the latter. We’ll see the truth of this insight as Lawrence threads his way through the factionalism, conspiracies and scandals that threaten to skew the final decision one way or another.
He is casting his own vote for Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci), an outspoken liberal. The arch-enemy is Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellito), a reactionary who wants to return the Papacy to Italian control, restore the Latin mass and reverse the increasingly tolerant trend of Vatican policy. Another serious contender is Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), a Nigerian cleric whose election would send a message of inclusiveness to the world, but whose views are almost as hard-line as Tedesco’s. Finally, there is Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow), an inveterate schemer possessed of moderate views but overwhelming ambition.
These very different personalities will compete for votes by means fair and foul, with Lawrence playing the roles of detective, inquisitor and master-of-ceremonies. He surprises everyone with his opening address, in which he departs from protocol to quote St. Paul, and philosophise: “Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand-in-hand with doubt. If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery. And therefore no need for faith.”
These sentiments strike a chord with a last-minute inclusion – one Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz), a cleric from Kabul, who had been appointed by the late Pope in a discrete manner. Originally from Mexico, this cardinal has served in the Congo, Iraq and now Afghanistan – a far cry from those powerful figures who occupy comfortable posts in western cities. As the new man in the firm, Benitez has no pre-existing alliances and is able to form a dispassionate opinion of his power-hungry peers.
Benitez recognises Lawrence as a man of faith, guided by a sense of right and wrong rather than any political instincts. It’s the shifting circumstances of the election that will force him to act in a more interventionist manner than he might have wished. Fiennes plays this role to the hilt – greeting the cardinals with a serene smile but wrinkling his brow when he discovers their guilty secrets. His face is a mask, but his thoughts are in perpetual turmoil.
All the leading characters have their complexities, with nobody being quite what they seem, either by design or self-delusion. The story is equally ambiguous in its view of the Catholic Church. Where some will see a picture of a powerful organisation overcoming its flaws to arrive at a positive result, others wll see mere blasphemy and insult. Such responses echo the divisions among Catholics today, and among the cardinals themselves, who accept that the Church has an image problem but disagree as to the solution. Issues such as contraception, homosexuality, the celibacy of priests, and the ordination of women remain topics of fierce controversy.
One of the most impressive aspects of Conclave is the set design, which goes to extraordinary lengths to reproduce the Vatican apartments and the Sistine Chapel. The costume department has likewise earned its pay, outfitting the cardinals in the right robes for each occasion. It feels completely convincing, although both sets and costumes have been enhanced, to add a lttle extra flair.
There’s plenty of room to argue about how accurately the film depicts the inner workings of the Church, but it’s persuasive in dramatic terms. The election of a new Pope may be a secretive affair, steeped in ritual and tradition, but it’s indisputably a political process in which candidates must wrestle with their own egos and ambitions. In managing this pageant, Fienne’s Cardinal Lawrence finds that the rules and his conscience are frequently at odds. Although he is tempted to leave everything in the hands of the Lord, Lawrence begins to think of himself as an instrument of justice, put in charge by the late Pope for that very reason. He understands that what’s right for the Church as an institution may not coincide with what is right in absolute terms. In facilitating the election of a new Pope, his underlying task is to adjudicate between the claims of the world and those of the spirit.
Conclave
Directed by Edward Berger
Written by Peter Straughan, after a novel by Robert Harris
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Lucian Msamati, Jacek Koman, Brían F. O’Byrne, Isabella Rossellini,
Sergio Castellito, Carlos Diehz, Rony Kramer
UK/USA, PG, 120 mins