Conclave, quite rightly, is nominated for a number of Oscars this year. This, I suspect, is down to how successfully it managed to construct a perfectly Oscar-friendly cladding – religion! costumes! meticulous reconstructions of the Vatican! – and wrap it around the silliest story imaginable. We’ll save discussions of the twist for another time, but even without that it’s a story about a bunch of ostensibly serious men acting like gossipy schoolgirls. It’s honestly hilarious.
Part of its appeal is in how well it has been cast. Ralph Fiennes gets to play his two best modes – furrowed doubt and Leonard Rossiter – at the same time. John Lithgow gets to be at once avuncular and menacing. Isabella Rossellini gets to tell lots of people that they’ve been very naughty boys. But arguably the best casting, and one weirdly shut out of nominations, is that of Stanley Tucci. And this is because, in Conclave, Stanley Tucci plays Stanley Tucci.
