Powerful 'Conclave' features Ralph Fiennes at his absolute best
The movie about finding the next Pope raises all the right questions.
Somehow, the movie world still underestimates Ralph Fiennes, or maybe it’s a matter of not mentioning him among the greats enough. While Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep are rightfully celebrated, it’s Fiennes who has consistently worked and worked throughout the years, putting out tremendous work.
He sadly doesn’t own an Oscar, but he does carry two nominations for roles that couldn’t be much different yet served a similar purpose. In 1996’s The English Patient, he was a desert explorer who aided the German side in World War II. In Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, he was the evil Amon Goth, A German soldier who killed countless souls in the concentration camps. But those are merely two examples of an exemplary career, one stuffed with tremendous performances that went unnoticed come awards time.
You can add Edward Berger’s Conclave to the list of great work. Fiennes portrays Thomas Lawrence, the Cardinal tasked with leading the search for a new Pope after the sudden death of the Holy Father, which brings up old secrets and bad candidates like the smoke that comes out of the chimney to alert the masses of a new leader. Finding a new Pope is no different than electing a President or Prime Minister, because the bodies split off into sections and wage private wars against ones they deem unfit.
Among the candidates are Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow), a respected voice that may be hiding the details of an interaction between him and the deceased Pope before his death. Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci) doesn’t want the position, but definitely wants to sway votes on who gets the altar. Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) wishes to take the Church back to an earlier philosophy that Bellini and others can’t stand. Mixed into all of it is Lawrence, someone who may want nothing to do with any of it.
However, the good soul of Fiennes’ Dean, someone chosen to lead the proclaimed Conclave, deems the search for the right future is more important than his own wishes, so he wages into the abyss of covered up weaknesses, rumors of a Cardinal being sacked, and his own crisis of conscience. All the while, a wildcard pick in Cardinal Vincent Benitez, someone who came to the ceremony at the last minute to the shock of other Cardinals, throws a wrinkle into the race.
Credit Carlos Diehz with giving Benitez’s backstory a lot of well-acted buildup before a late reveal in Peter Straughan’s sharp screenplay. Diehz and Fiennes have some of the movie’s best scenes as two Cardinals who see things the same way but come at it from different perspectives and pasts. How do you sway favor in a biased crowd about a future that doesn’t side with the old way of doing things? You push the rage down, like Cardinal Lawrence.
As someone who doesn’t have a foot in the religious game and thinks the world we live in is built by pure choice and action, Straughan’s script and Berger’s direction compels a provocative thought about dedicating your whole life to an ideal, even if the candidates aren’t always as ideal as those wishful beliefs. It’s not like every Cardinal in Rome is a fool and sinks his years into the fellowship of something that’s greater than one person--but it takes a good argument, like the recent Heretic, to make one stop and think.
Conclave questions a lot of things we’ve heard before on film or in our life, and does it in an honest manner that even non-believers can enjoy and pull something out of the experience. Two Popes, an equally sharp film about the rigorous process of selecting a new Pope, also managed to create conversations like Berger’s film, albeit in a more preachy style. It has one of the best ensemble casts of the year, including Isabella Rossellini.
It’s Fiennes who grounds the proceedings. Since he can portray the darkest of souls as well as the lightest ones full of hope, the actor never encounters a role or script that makes him feel lost. He can do so much with just a little eye movement and some words, telling us all about Lawrence’s struggle in a couple scenes.
The best actors need the least amount of screen time to convince us they aren’t the person listed on the poster. Fiennes gets there quickly every time, whether he’s digging up the ships of Anglo-Saxons or the secrets of potential Popes. It may not be as flashy as his two Academy Award-nominated roles, but it’s a savvy pick for any critic.
If you’re up for a heady yet well-paced drama that challenges previous conventions, press play on Conclave.