‘Conclave’: Ralph Fiennes Faces Doubt and Corruption in Edward Berger’s Riveting Vatican Thriller  

Alci Rengifo

Wherever societies gather and form hierarchies, the struggle for power becomes ruthless. In Edward Berger’s “Conclave,” the Vatican becomes a den of ambition where faith only raises the stakes. Berger’s gripping meditation on power is an adaption of a novel by Robert Harris. The title refers to the secretive assembly which takes place when Roman Catholic cardinals seclude themselves in the Vatican to choose a new Pope. The environment is ancient and visually rich, but the gathering men of the cloth are driven by the same kind of passions you hear about going on in Capitol Hill.

Ralph Fiennes was born with the face for the film’s lead. Focused with authority, yet kind, his Cardinal Lawrence has suddenly become the overseer of a momentous event. The Pope has died, his ring removed and now a conclave must be assembled at the Vatican. Locked away behind these old walls, the assembled clergymen will select the next head of the Roman Catholic Church. Lawrence, an Englishman, is the dean in charge of the conclave and it is not an easy job. Factions have formed between Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci), a liberal American who wants to overturn the church’s outdated homophobia and other stubborn attitudes, and Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), a right-wing Italian demanding a return to tradition. From Canada there’s the obedient Cardinal Trembley (John Lithgow), who claims to have no ambitions. Rumors abound of a secret meeting he had with the Pope right before the latter’s death. Africa’s Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) is another frontrunner. As the vote commences, their ambitions and even conspiracies take shape and weigh on Lawrence.

Berger described to Entertainment Voice the appeal of adapting Robert Harris’ page-turner because, “It felt like one of those great political conspiracy thrillers from the 1970s… It felt like ‘The Parallax View’ or ‘All the President’s Men,’ that kind of claustrophobic, paranoid conspiracy thriller that locks a cast, in this case into the Vatican.” This film has precisely that feel of grounded, riveting intrigue. It is also a versatile turn for Berger, who previously gained much renown and Oscar wins with his adaptation of “All Quiet on the Western Front,” capturing World War I as a nightmare of bloodied earth, men as cannon fodder and overpowering war machinery. “Conclave” is a different kind of war zone where the weapons are ambition, insider knowledge and at times, pure cynicism. What makes it unique is that unlike “House of Cards,” political drives merge with theological concerns. The cardinals are aware the church has been deeply weakened by all of the sexual abuse and corruption scandals, yet most of them still feel the eye of God over their shoulders.

The emotional force of the film centers on Ralph Fiennes’ powerful performance as a man whose faith is rocked by everything that ensues. As the gatekeeper of the conclave, he must also make sure there are no moral slips, and there are plenty. His eyes and ears is a priest named O’Malley (Brían F. O’Byrne), who has to inform on anything suspicious, like the odd meeting Trembley had with the now deceased pope. With the first votes growing inconclusive, the revelations keep flooding in about backdoor alliances, men of the cloth keeping past sexual indiscretions secret, and others willing to use such information for sabotage. The great Isabella Rossellini is a wise but reserved presence as Sister Agnes, who knows when to intervene among these bickering men. The stakes feel much higher on a personal level for everyone than your average political thriller. If this is how the Vatican operates, what then makes it different from any other worldly institution? Maybe faith is something beyond human-made dogma. 

The screenplay by Peter Straughan is thrilling yet intelligent in making the key questions feel universal. Lawrence’s challenged faith could be a Communist discovering the party bosses were thieving capitalists all along, or anyone tethered to an ideology feeling its foundations challenged. The cardinals are written like believably flawed men driven to extremes by their personal interests. Tedesco is an open racist against Middle Eastern immigrants. Bellini hates him so much he might be willing to back a corrupt option just to block his nemesis. Tedesco is like a Catholic version of what U.S. evangelicals have been going through with their stubborn support for Trump, despite his not being exactly a model of moral rectitude. A line already gaining traction finds Lawrence cynically asking someone, “Did he offer you secretary of state?” No one’s a saint. Everyone is hiding something, even kind, quiet Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz), a Mexican who everyone is stunned to discover was stationed in Kabul (“how many Catholics could there possibly be in Afghanistan?”). 

Berger’s film is magnificent to look at with its recreations of the Sistine Chapel and other famous Vatican landmarks in Italy’s legendary Cinecitta Studios. Cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine never makes any of the sights glow, instead draping much of the environment in rich shadows. These old walls with so much history can become as cold as Capitol Hill. While every performance is top tier, it is Fiennes who dominates with one of this year’s best through those pained eyes of an honest man constantly cornered by a merciless world. Losing one’s faith can be the ultimate heartbreak. You’re not losing a lover but the very meaning of your universe. This could also be why Lawrence might be the best candidate for the job. We would like to think so. Berger’s film is as sober about how power plays operate as his “All Quiet on the Western Front” was about the brutality of war. Intensity becomes so palpable over how the election of a pope cannot be blamed on the masses either. The men in the conclave know it all rests in their hands.

The ending of “Conclave” will surely spark debate, maybe even more than everything else that happens in the film. It might just not work for some audiences and feel like too much of an extra attempt at one more twist before the end credits. Then again, it could also work as the ultimate statement on the inevitability of some form of change coming to even the oldest of institutions. Everything before it, however, is expert filmmaking where Berger manages to make inner struggles as cinematic as any chase or shootout. Lawrence’s journey is our own. We try to make sense of a world constantly overturning what we believed in, attempting to find new ways to sustain some meaning. In the end, the true believer in anything also has to learn to question in order to have that most cherished thing of all, freedom.

“Conclave” releases Oct. 25 in theaters nationwide.