“How can a film about the election of a pope be so entertaining?” question Vulture, the pop culture site of New York Magazine. Conclave, the new feature film by German director Edward Berger, has already been released in many countries. From December 4, it is the turn of the French to discover this papal thriller, with the British Ralph Fiennes at the head of the bill.
Conclave is the adaptation of an eponymous novel by Robert Harris, translated by Plon in 2017. A fiction, the idea of which came to the British novelist in 2013, while he was following the election of Pope Francis on television, tells the german daily South German newspaper.
“He remained obsessed with the face of the Cardinals. To Harris, they looked not like clergy but like politicians.”
In the mysteries of the Vatican
On screen, Ralph Fiennes, 61, plays Thomas Lawrence, dean of the College of Cardinals. On the death of the sovereign pontiff, he is responsible for organizing the conclave which will designate a successor. “This responsibility overwhelms him, warns the American magazine Time. Recently, he asked to be relieved of his duties at the Vatican, citing a crisis of faith – not in God, but in the Church.” The previous pope had refused, and so Cardinal Lawrence was forced to complete his Stations of the Cross.
The cardinals arrive from all over the world and prepare for the closed session from which only one name must emerge. They will have to “make their choice, sums it up Los Angeles Times. Will they vote for the candidate they believe in? Or will they maneuver to prevent the strongman from the right wing of the clergy from taking power?”
Very quickly, scandals, low blows and machinations follow one another. If you believed that the last American presidential election was a ruthless election, “wait and see, in Conclave, what evil can a handful of cardinals engage in to seize power,” jokes the American daily USA Today.
Beautiful decors to die for
The result is “entertaining”, “pleasant”, many critics assure. Conclave unfolds a suspenseful plot that many consider tasty and juicy. As the British daily points out Financial Times, one of the film’s strengths is its promise to take us into the mysteries of the Vatican, into the shadow of the cardinals. From this point of view, the mission seems accomplished, even though most of the film had to be shot in the Cinecittà studios in Rome.
“The visual sumptuousness of the film and of this fake Vatican is extraordinary. It could – perhaps – turn your head to the point of encouraging you to be baptized,” warns Time. For the German daily The world, it’s quite simply “great cinema” which is eye-catching:
“Edward Berger is interested in rituals, spaces, gestures. He likes to capture the changing expressions on faces, group choreographies, the friction between the profane and the sacred.”
The succession ceremony is reproduced in a luxury of details, without major errors, assures the American channel CNN. Edward Berger won an Oscar in 2023 for In the west nothing new, a film he made for Netflix. The German “proves once again that he is among the most sought-after filmmakers in the world, and confirms the rumors according to which he could direct the next James Bond (even if he denies it)”, writes the South German newspaper.
A deadly sin
Pour The Times, However, it must also be understood that he does not deliver here “a filmmaker’s film”, but indeed a pure entertainment product, taking up certain tricks of the spy thriller. As a director, “Saves a price [dans Conclave] the wisest decision, that of staying in the background”, decides the British daily.
“His film is based on the performances of the actors, and they are what give it its cohesion.”
Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and even Isabella Rossellini are doing well. But for The Times, it is Ralph Fiennes who carries the film on his shoulders. Several newspapers predict that the actor will win an Oscar for his performance consumed by doubt. “Between what [son] character projects in public and what he lets guess in private, the contrast is immense: uniting these two extremes with astonishing ease and naturalness, [Ralph Fiennes] delivers what is perhaps the most remarkable performance of his career,” acquiesces the Quebec newspaper The Duty.
And the message of the film? “Conclave seems much deeper than it actually is,” and does not go much beyond the unsurprising observation that “cardinals are men like any other”, regret it Los Angeles Times. The Wall Street Journal is not completely wrong when, unconvinced by the feature film, he writes that it will appeal above all “the public who already hates the Catholic Church”. The improbable twist of theater which occurred at the end of the conclave, and which may have moved the American Catholic press, does not change the situation. This fundamental laziness is, without doubt, the great sin of the film.
