The Pope is dead. With His Holiness elegantly zipped into a pristine, white lace body bag, his room encased behind a wax seal, the cardinals must now lock themselves inside the Vatican to choose his successor.
Director Edward Berger has followed up (and bettered) All Quiet on the Western Front with this mesmerising, slow-motion papal smackdown – which should, in a righteous world, turn out to be more notable for something else: Ralph Fiennes’ long-awaited Oscar moment. It’s a hypnotically towering performance from Fiennes, more on which later.
