If there’s one film this season that a critic can unreservedly recommend to anyone, it’s Conclave. The Vatican-set drama hits the sweet spot between popcorn movie and prestige picture. It’s a highly entertaining potboiler that’s like Succession set in the hallowed hallways of the Vatican as Cardinals elect a new Pope.
The film, which opens in theatres October 25 after premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, boasts a tour-de-force performance from Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence, the Dean of the College of Cardinals tasked with overseeing the election—and a dark horse in the race. As the reluctant contender surveys the field, Lawrence proves a controversial figure in the proceedings as he ferrets out sinners and steers the holy men back on track. The ensemble of Cardinals in this drama by Oscar winner Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) includes Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Sergio Castellitto as the men of God eyeing the Papacy.
“With Ralph, it’s quite a silent role,” says Berger, speaking with That Shelf at TIFF. “He doesn’t have the most lines. He observes a lot. He thinks a lot. He watches, he makes his own deductions, and once in a while, he interviews someone or has a question to someone. But he’s mainly a very withdrawn character.”
When asked what drew him to Fiennes, Berger says the actor’s introspective traits were key to channelling Lawrence’s inner war. “I needed someone where can see what takes place behind the eyes: who’s in the eyes and behind it to creep into his brain,” explains Berger. “Doing a very restrained performance, he can let us into his soul.”
Cardinal Lawrence’s introspective nature means that much of Conclave’s riveting drama plays out in silence. Cardinals cast their ballots, gossip in hushed (and very un-Christian) whispers, and eye their colleagues suspiciously. Similarly, a scene-stealing performance by Isabella Rossellini as Sister Agnes, one of the nuns overseeing arrangements for the conclave, matches Fiennes’ observant power. (In a rare feat, her performance drew a chorus of applause from critics during the pre-TIFF press screening.) The lingering silence provides a tense counterpoint to the energetic score by Volker Bertlemann that ranks as one of the year’s best.
“It’s mainly about contrast,” says Berger when asked about the role of silence in Conclave. “I was always drawn to the political thrillers of the Seventies, let’s say, All the President’s Men, Parallax View—a lot of those movies are quite silent. That creates a feeling of paranoia, of claustrophobia, of being watched, of listening, having to listen. To me, silence is a great tool to create tension.”
While the hushed nature of Conclave marks a sharp contrast to the bombast of All Quiet on the Western Front, one also sees how the director makes astute use of the characters’ physical surrounds. Just as All Quiet features the claustrophobia of trench warfare, Conclave accentuates the nature of containment in the Vatican setting. Shut off from the world, the Cardinals enact a petty power play, but one that inevitably sees real world concerns infiltrate the proceedings. Men who refuse to confront the Church’s place in a contemporary world risk losing votes to those who do.
The Vatican itself is off limits to cameras, though. Berger notes that there’s literally a line in square marking the border for camera access. That means the team had to get creative to make the drama feel authentic in iconic settings.
Berger notes that many of the film’s scenes were shot at Rome’s famed Cinecittà Studios, which had something of a spotlight at TIFF this year with Queer and Without Blood boasting the movie house’s name. “We built the Sistine Chapel in Cinecittà. We built the Casa Santa Marta, where the Cardinals are staying in, Cinecittà right next to it. Then for the rest of it, we basically scouted for locations in Rome,” he says.
“Rome is a visually rich city, and we just found bit by bit. It’s actually quite a few locations, but it feels like one,” adds Berger. “But every room is in a different place, and so we had to piece it together and look throughout Rome to create this visually rich, vast, expansive, big Vatican feeling.”
Berger adds the Conclave’s consideration of faith and the role of the Church in contemporary life drew him to the story. With Peter Straughn (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) adapting the novel by Robert Harris, the film plays more like a spy thriller than as brethren to, say, The Two Popes. Berger says he was looking for these layers.
“It’s a wonderful thriller that satisfies our need to feel tension, to feel isolation, to feel moved by the characters, to wonder who’s going to be Pope, who’s going to be victorious in this Game of Thrones-like this battle for the succession,” he observes. “But it also has a wonderfully rich inner journey for its main character, and that’s what I was very much drawn to. That’s what I think the audience responds to when watching a movie. You want to be satisfied on a character level, but also on a story and plot level.”
On the character front, Cardinal Lawrence frequently returns to the question of doubt while leading the conclave. He stirs excitement by encouraging his peers to elect a Pope who doubts, rather than one who has blindly refuses to question himself and the world around him.
“I think in our current climate, it is really important to embrace doubt, and I’ve always embraced it,” says Berger. “I found at some point I was a little bit insecure about my doubts. I thought, why am I so doubtful? Why can’t I be certain about things? Until at some point I realized maybe it’s a strength. Maybe I just embrace it and say, doubt gives me energy [and] pushes me forward because I evaluate the pros and cons, and then I eventually make a decision.” Berger hopes that audiences leave the film with questions of their own.
“I think that’s what drew me and Ralph to the movie, that inner journey, that question of doubt, that crisis of faith,” he continues. “I think that anyone can identify with, no matter if you’re an engineer, a baker, a filmmaker, a journalist, you can identify with that question. I hope that people see that in the film and come out thinking about that.”