Nate Hood on CONCLAVE (2024)

What is it about the Vatican City and the inner workings of the Catholic Church that so inspires secular art? There have been no shortages of films set in the holy city, from the dignified (e.g. The Two Popes [2019]) to the ludicrous (e.g. Angels & Demons [2009]). It’s been the subject of television shows, miniseries, and even video games such as the recently released Indiana Jones and the Great Circle which sees players punch and pummel their way through the Vatican’s nooks and crannies as Harrison Ford. Is it the pageantry? The weight, knowledge, and secrets of nearly two thousand years of history? Perhaps there’s an irresistible hunger for intrigue among religious outsiders, a belief that an institution as ancient and powerful as the Vatican must have its secrets and intrigues. Edward Berger’s Conclave, a stirring thriller based on Robert Harris’ 2016 novel, is the latest addition to this line of entertainments. And while the film isn’t necessarily religious—indeed, the film has come under fire from several official Catholic publications—it is nonetheless sincere in its treatment of religion and its depiction of those who shoulder the faith for nearly 1.4 billion Catholics around the world.

The film keeps the political machinations and inner workings of the Vatican mercifully simple for non-Catholics. A pope dies. A conclave of cardinals must assemble to elect a new one. The man tasked with running the show is one Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), a man of solemn devotion to duty and very human doubts about his faith. As voting begins favorites emerge among the pack of candidates. There’s a blowhard traditionalist from Italy who resents all the social progress the Church has made since the reforms of Vatican II. There’s an American liberal who wants to expand the role of women in the Church. There’s a Nigerian conservative vying to become the first African pope. And there’s a Canadian moderate who’s not above a little wheeling and dealing with his fellow cardinals. As vote after vote leads to deadlock, Lawrence finds himself untangling conspiracies that might make or break the most popular candidates.

What makes Conclave unique is how seriously and earnestly it considers the theological implications of its intrigues. Time and again the point is made that the cardinals are fallible human beings, each with their own flaws and shortcomings. There can be no perfectly moral candidate, so how much sin is too much to disqualify someone from becoming pope? Can decades of penance and devoted ministry wash away scandals that are decades old? Is Machiavellian politicking among voters justifiable if it means the “right” candidate gets elected? Are the burdens of the Holy See too great for any one man at all? These are the questions that bubble beneath the surface of the film, keeping it from becoming nakedly sensationalist despite several shocking twists and turns. The result is a tense thriller with a heart, a brain, and a soul.