Conclave – REVIEW

Ralph Fiennes in Conclave

This has been on my radar for a few months now. I’ve enjoyed director Edward Berger’s previous effort, his German-language adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s novel All Quiet on the Western Front, which was a surprise Oscar contender and won in nearly every technical category, as well as being nominated for Best Picture. That being said, whatever he did next would have some big names attached to it. Conclave has that in spades. After the death of the Pope, Ralph Fiennes’s Cardinal Lawrence has to oversee the election process while reconvening with all of the different contenders at play, all of them wanting to become the new Pope. The process of this election is very in-depth, and for someone who didn’t too much about the subject going into it, it feels like there was a lot of care and effort put into the different strategies that are in place to make the process move smoothly. Berger’s direction is the standout here, his smooth style lending well to a political thriller just as well as All Quiet’s grittiness (no wonder he’s rumored to be directing Ocean’s 14). The production design and Stéphane Fontaine’s cinematography are just as slick, all feeding into a well-oiled machine of a movie. That’s not even mentioning the performers. We all know that Ralph Fiennes is great, and it’s great to see him consistently pop up in awards junkets, where he’s destined to be Oscar-nominated for Conclave. More love is deserved for Stanley Tucci’s more soft-spoken performance as the more progressive candidate, Cardinal Bellini, as well as his complete opposite in Sergio Castellitto’s Cardinal Tedesco, the loud, conservative candidate. There’s a lot of buzz for Isabella Rossellini’s role as Sister Agnes, a worn-down nun, and she makes her presence known in her limited screen time. The only drawback is that I feel there eventually becomes too much to juggle. Different storylines converging with characters should warrant some more time to them here, but it does feel surprisingly lean for a 2-hour movie. There must’ve been a lot on the cutting room floor. Besides the point, Conclave is an example of a movie that runs like clockwork. It’s all very good, but it never reaches that high point that marks the best of that year.


Ryan’s Grade: B+