I think it is safe to say that one of the most secretive activities on the planet is a papal enclave, one where the College of Cardinals gathers in the Sistine Chapel to choose a new pope. The cardinals are all sequestered from the outside world where they vote in secret, with the only clue to what is happening being the color of the smoke from a chimney. What goes in there? I don’t rightfully know. I would imagine at least part of it is political regardless of what anyone might say, but beyond that? Who can say that isn’t there?

Anyway, a thriller about that starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini was bound to get my attention.

When a sitting Pope dies unexpectedly of a heart attack, it falls to Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Fiennes) to lead the conclave to choose a new one. Among the many cardinals are a few contenders. The American Aldo Bellini (Tucci) is a liberal who wants to push the Church in more progressive directions while a more traditional Italian, Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), wants to turn back the clock about 60 years. The conservative Cardinal Tremblay (Lithgow) was the last to see the Holy Father alive, and there’s a new Cardinal no one knew about but whose appointment is perfectly legit, Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz). There’s some politicking as Lawrence wants Bellini to be the next Pope, but he’s having a crisis of faith on his own and isn’t even sure he’s the man to run the conclave, let alone attend it.

But there’s a lot going on as it seems someone is manipulating the results in certain ways, and Lawrence is in the middle as the Dean of the Conclave. What happened at Tremblay’s last meeting? Can Bellini, who alternately claims not to want to be Pope but gets upset when Lawrence gets votes he doesn’t want, win the papacy? Who knew the secrets of another likely candidate? Can anyone keep Tedesco out of the office he obviously wants? And what does Sister Agnes (Rossellini) know as a longtime worker in the Vatican itself? Who will be the new Pope?

One thing should be said up front: Conclave is a quiet movie, and that’s what I was expecting. There was one or two moments of violence, but this is a movie where the youngest character is played by an actor in his 50s. It was never going to be the sort of thing we normally think of as a thriller. Instead, it’s a movie where older men talk about what they want for the future of the Church, some with more urgency than others. Every so often, Rossellini’s Sister Agnes shows up to show some world-weary distaste for many of the things happening and even a little bit of appropriate sass. Fiennes’s Lawrence, with his crisis of faith, makes for a compelling lead, a man who just wants the best person to lead the Church while trying to keep his head down more than anything else. But given his position, he just can’t.

It is not, however, a perfect movie. A moment of shocking violence felt a little forced and not really resolved in the end. The final resolution was also not completely surprising, and anyone with a familiarity with the genre will probably not be too surprised in the end. I say that due to the fact I was thinking of things going a certain a way, and a woman sitting near me guessed out loud what I was thinking, and we weren’t exactly wrong. The characters are, by and large, more stock than anything else, but what makes them work is a stellar cast. I legitimately loved it whenever Rossellini showed up to do whatever it was she was going to do. This movie is a showcase for great acting, and that was good enough for me.

Grade: B+


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