Conclave: A Review

CONCLAVE

The work of sinful man is at the heart of the sacred process of selecting the Successor to St. Peter in Conclave, a film convinced of its own grand importance but falling short.

The Pope is dead. Now it falls upon Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) to oversee the College of Cardinals, the group of men who in theory are guided by the Holy Spirit to find the new Pontiff among the brethren. However, there is a good amount of politicking and machinations among the various candidates who wish to sit upon the Throne of St. Peter. 

There is American liberal Aldo Bellini (Stanley Tucci) who wants to continue the late Pope's progressive agenda. There is his archrival, the ultraconservative Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), who wants to foster a counter-revolution to Second Vatican. Nigerian Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) straddles the other candidates: socially conservative, economically liberal. Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow) is closer to the conservative side, but he is more interested in power than in theology or internal struggles on the Church's direction. Finally, there is a surprise Cardinal: Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz), appointed by the late Pope as Archbishop of Kabul but whose appointment was kept secret for his own safety.

As the conclave continues, various skeletons start emerging for all the potential candidates. One fathered an illegitimate child with a nun. One has been bribing other Cardinals for votes. Lawrence, himself a liberal, finds himself in the running, facing off against the growing rise of Tedesco. Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini) finds herself a pawn, perhaps a willing one, in the various schemes and counterschemes to become Pope. Will a dark horse emerge to rise above the others, especially after a bombing near the Vatican shakes up the race? Once Habemus Papam is declared, there is one more surprise about Pope Innocent XIV that would shock the faithful, but one that will not be revealed to the faithful at Saint Peter's Square.

When I finished Conclave, I ended up not being as impressed with Conclave's twist ending as others have been. I think it has to do with how I know about the legend of Pope Joan, alleged to be the first and only female Pope who ascended to the Papacy while disguised as a man. Conclave to be fair does not feature a female Pope, but the twist is not that far off from having Her Holiness Pope Joan II. 

Separate from that, Conclave makes a classic film mistake in confusing slowness with solemnity. At two hours, Conclave feels longer, and I put that on the overall style of the film. A good description of Conclave for me would be "stately": slow, deliberate, ponderous and serious, oh so serious. The film is so utterly convinced of its seriousness and great importance that it sucks the life out of what could and should have been a great drama of plotting and scheming among the men of God.

Edgar Berger's previous film was All Quiet on the Western Front, which left me thoroughly unimpressed. Conclave, which is also an adaptation of a novel, left me with the same feeling. The performances have such a sense of seriousness to them that except for on occasion Tucci everyone behaved as if there were slightly drugged.

I will walk that back a bit. Castellitto delighted in devouring the screen as the reactionary Tedesco, raging at how the Church has been too accommodating to such evils that he sees, such as Islam and relativism. Others, such as Msamati, came close to making their characters human. However, his great scene had me suppressing chuckles versus being shocked or saddened. 

Talk of Rossellini for Best Supporting Actress needs to be tempered. It is not a bad performance. It is, rather, that is such a small part that she is almost insignificant to the overall film. I do not know if her character has enough to warrant consideration. 

The performances overall are not bad. They are just rather stately, grand, almost self-aware of how important everyone and everything is supposed to be that it ends up making them seem less characters and more caricatures. 

There are positives that recommend Conclave. Volker Bertelmann's score is serious but sets up the mood well. It also is miles ahead of the three note-humping he did for most of All Quiet on the Western Front. The sets and costumes are extremely well-crafted, so much so that it almost does look like the Sistine Chapel was used.

Had Conclave opted to make the College of Cardinals more flawed than cool, cool, considerate men, the film would have been better. It is not a bad film, but its sense of greatness dwarves any shady dealings that go on in the Vatican.    

DECISION: C-