OSCARS 2025: Conclave (2024)

One of the few upsides to following awards season every year is, sometimes, you get to see someone slowly ascend up the A-list. Ten years ago, how many people knew who Edward Berger was? That's when the German-born director put out "Jack," which got enough attention for Berger to make a name for himself. Six years after that, he had enough esteem to mount a new adaptation of a seminal novel, which got picked up by Netflix, and subsequently won a bunch of awards. Now, Berger's follow-up to "All Quiet on the Western Front" has received eight Academy Awards nominations and has a good shot at Best Picture. That would be "Conclave," a compelling ecclesiastic mystery that might be the face of what a middlebrow Hollywood drama for grown-ups looks like in the Year of Our Lord 2025. 

The Pope has died. With the highest seat in the holiest house on Earth vacated, the College of Cardinals begins the rigorous process of selecting the next man who will become the Catholic Church's Eminence. Dean Lawrence leads the papal conclave to find that man. Candidates include the liberal Cardinal Bellini, the strict Cardinal Adeyemi, the unassuming Cardinal Trembley, and the outspoken traditionalist Cardinal Tedesco. Lawrence himself is considered an option too, despite being in the midst of a crisis of faith and publicly rebuffing the offer. Intrigue increases as more unexpected events surface: The arrival of an unknown archbishop from Kabul who was personally selected by the late Pope, violent protests in the streets, and more secrets from the past coming to light. Lawrence investigates each claim, navigating the thorny politics and controversies to find a man worthy to be the public face of the Church. 

Despite its stately, refined subject matter, "Conclave" essentially functions like a detective story. We have an honorable but conflicted hero presented with a series of subjects, each one with their own complications and virtues, that he most thoroughly verifies. At the end, all the red herrings are discarded and a verdict is selected but, instead of going to jail for murder, the man becomes the Pope. It's honestly a funny contrast, sticking a pulpy premise within a context that couldn't possibly take itself more seriously. Only occasionally does "Conclave" stop to pause at the gulf between the prestige of its presentation and the familiar way its narrative functions. Such as when Dean Lawrence sneaks into the deceased Pope's bedroom and finds an important clue stuck inside a secret compartment in the wall, like he's Nancy Drew or something. There's a reason why the detective story is perhaps the most universally popular format on Earth though. It's a compelling hook, that quickly draws the audience in as we try and navigate the entanglements ourselves. There's a wide cast of characters, lots of clues and false leads to look into, but only one answer to the central question. Watching our protagonist put the pieces together and finding that solution is a fun game between the viewer and the author, whether it results in a perp being caught or white smoke billowing out of the Sistine Chapel. 

Several precautions are taken to make sure that "Conclave" plays as a drama worthy of the Church's pretensions and not the paperback mystery it not-so-secretly is. Berger, cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine, and some of the best production designers and costumers in the entertainment industry work together to ensure "Conclave" looks gorgeous and striking. The film is clearly composed like a religious painting, with rays of godly light breaking through narrow windows into shadowed, muted chambers of contemplation. This is one of those movies were numerous frames could be paused and presented as stand alone pieces of art, with multiple shots of thoughtful men in ornate gowns thinking about important stuff while kneeling in ancient temples. The team took great pains to replicate the look and feel of the papal settings, to the point where you could be tricked into thinking the filmmakers actually got to shoot inside the real Sistine Chapel and Domus Sanctae Marthae. 

Having a quiet, serious movie so invested in physical sets, elaborate costumes, and lovingly replicated props is its own treat in our era of Netflix slop and rampant green screen. The compelling conflict within "Conclave," the pull between higher aspiration and earthly thrills, is evident in its cast too. Ralph Fiennes is our besmocked Sherlock Holmes, furrowing his brow as he weighs his own faith and the holiness of each candidate. Fiennes never blinks, an endlessly watchable dramatic lead who clearly approached all of this with due thoughtfulness. This keeps the film grounded in its own grandness while, funnily enough, allowing the supporting cast to camp it up. "Conclave" assembles a fine collection of character actors and gives each of them juicy moments. Stanley Tucci debates the push-and-pull between tradition and modernity the church must navigate as Bellini. Sergio Castellitto roars and grandstands as the furiously conservative Tedesco. John Lithgow is quietly hilarious as the perpetually aghast Trembley. Isabella Rossellini shows up for a few scenes, never actually contributing much to the story while letting her smoky eyes and trademark enchantment do all the legwork. 

It's a grand old time at the theatre, in other words. Social media gadflies have repeatedly pointed out that "Conclave" resembles the tawdry melodrama of a reality show as much as it does a detective novel or a grand orchestrations of an ancient religious order. We are essentially watching messy queens, as outrageously cloaked as any drag star, try to undermine each other's campaigns. Drawing parallels between heavenly business and the mean girl-like tactics of its participants is very intentional on "Conclave's" behalf. Dean Lawrence's investigation unearths buried affairs, covered-up crimes, and shocking secrets. It's a reminder that, though Men of God declare themselves on more spiritually sturdy ground than the plebian masses, they are as susceptible to earthly temptations as any of us. The petty bickering and grandstanding debates are clearly meant to invoke our embattled political moment, as some characters argue for a worldview empathetic to changing times and others insist on clinging to the old ways in the face of fear and violence. It's all performance, all camp, designed to blind people and sway our opinions so that one guy can grab the power he desires more than the other candidates around him. 

How valuable you think pointing that out is a matter of personal preference. "Conclave" invokes quite a few serious, real world topics. The molestation scandals of the Church are mentioned, bringing to mind the unavoidable fact that every institute of power is filled with abuse and manipulation. The most disposable subplot, of the Holy See being under attack by literally unseen extremists, blatantly recalls all the fears of outsiders and foreigners that right-wing agitators are obsessed with. This comes to a head in the film's final minutes, with a dramatic reveal of questionable taste that invokes another spectral boogeyman the MAGA crowd is psychotically fixated on. "Conclave" doesn't actually have anything to say about matters of faith, power, responsibility, open borders and open hearts. It's a big, covertly campy page-turner, gesturing at big ideas while simply delivering on a compellingly woven narrative formula. 

Maybe that's part of the subtext too, that divide between what the film claims it's about and what it actually does. That would certainly tie into its story of holy men backbiting one another on their way to becoming the Supreme Pontiff. Truly, it's only that last that strikes me as too insensitive, ending the film on a note that makes you wonder what the hell we're supposed to take away from that. Otherwise, "Conclave" is good ol' fashion filmmaking at its best. Come to the cinema, look at the beautiful work of craftsmen operating at the height of their abilities, and get drawn into an exciting story for a little while. "Conclave" is an entertaining synthesis of the high and low arts and whether it's actually profound or only as profound as the Catholic Church claims to be is up to the viewer to decide. [7/10]