A largely faithful adaptation of Robert Harris’s 2016 novel, Edward Berger’s Conclave narrates the election of a new pope after the sudden death of the pontiff.
The film draws on Harris’s research into the obscurities of the papal poll, which was also present in Fernando Meirelles’s quirky 2019 film about Popes Benedict and Francis, The Two Popes. Conclave’s cardinals are entirely fictitious, but the ritual of selecting the new pope aims for authenticity.
The lighting lends a film noir atmosphere by keeping faces half in shadow, apt for the skullduggery in which many of the main contenders are involved. The strong cast includes Ralph Fiennes (the British Cardinal Lawrence in the film, renamed from Italian Lomelli in the novel), Stanley Tucci (as Cardinal Bellini) and John Lithgow (as Cardinal Tremblay). Isabella Rossellini plays Sister Agnes, an assertive nun in patriarchal lockdown; an arch curtsy from her had the audience in stitches during the screening.
