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Join UsStar Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, and Carlos Diehz
Director: Edward Berger
What’s Good: Excellent performances, sets, cinematography, and costumes make this film something to behold on every level.
What’s Bad: As expected, the film starts becoming a bit preachy towards the end, deleting all the nuance that the story had before, making it compelling in the first place.
Loo Break: The film’s pacing is quite special, and there are very few places where something important is not happening, so no breaks.
Watch or Not?: Yes, this is a must-watch, especially now that it is an Academy Award nominee.
Language: English (with subtitles).
Available On: Theaters, VOD
Runtime: 120 Minutes.
User Rating:
The Vatican is not only the smallest nation in the world, but it is also one of the most secretive, as it is run by a single organization that has existed for thousands of years at this point, and with that level of importance throughout history, and that level of wealth and power, come secrets that are as juicy as you can think of. Conclave, the new film by Edward Berger, dwells into some of those secrets, revealing that the interactions and relationships between those in power in the Vatican are just as human as everyone else’s.
Conclave Movie Review: Script Analysis
Conclave is an adaptation of Robert Harris’s novel of the same name. As such, it has a level of richness and research that makes the film feel substantial as if someone really cared about telling this story and telling it well enough. Thus, the work of Peter Straughan, the film’s screenwriter, stands out thanks to a collection of conversations and scenes that feel important, with very little fluff all around.
As Oppenheimer did last year, Conclave is a film of people in rooms talking. Still, the delivery of the dialogue, the themes it tackles, and the subjects themselves are done so well that you could hear the actors speak endlessly about these themes. These universal themes make you think about how we deal with them on a daily basis, and they are portrayed in the film, in all their complexity, to actually portray what it feels like to be a person living in the position the characters live.
The script mixes an entire bag of themes, going from faith, doubt, corruption, and the relevance of the Church in modern times, all at the same time, and thankfully, it manages to work all of them properly because the film doesn’t stop to tell us what to think, the themes are the story, and the conflict arises from having them all trapped in one place, it is a perfect setup, and for a movie that is so heavy with dialogue, the pacing feels just right, never staying too much in one place before jumping to the next subject.
If something is lacking, it is that the participation of certain female characters feels too limited. Even if there is a point for them being so much in the background, when their time to shine comes, it feels like a cop-out and something that must be done to avoid controversy. Instead of something that genuinely marked a change in the story or developed into something more interesting, it feels shoehorned in. Nevertheless, one of those characters gave Rossellini an Academy Award nomination, so it was worth it.
Conclave Movie Review: Star Performance
Conclave is an actor’s film, yes, the technical achievements of the film are many, and it is gorgeous to watch, but this is all about the actors and their performances as every single actor brings their A-game to the table, and of course, it is Ralph Fiennes who shines the most brightly, not only because he is the main character, but because his character is also the most complex, and interesting, and so, it is someone worth following throughout the entire runtime.
Fiennes’ performance could give him finally the Oscar he deserves, and at least, for me, he is my favorite to win, alongside Adrien Brody in The Brutalist. The rest of the cast is also excellent, but they mostly do what we know they can do. They do it well but are definitely secondary to Fiennes’ character and his tribulations. Stanley Tucci stands out the most outside of Fiennes’s performance, and his performance is very relatable, especially in the times we are living in.
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Conclave Movie Review: Direction, Music
Edward Berger has already proven that he can lead his team into creating wonderful pieces of filmmaking. His vision is precise and clear, and while some people might call that a lack of style, I would argue that it is the opposite, leading Berger to make pictures that are as polished as they can be, allowing the audience to experience characters and stories most easily, even if the stories deal with very complex and heavy subjects, and Conclave is no different.
The way the camera shoots the actors, the buildings, and the sets feel so real and majestic, only adding to the sense of the reality that the film wants to portray, a sense that this story is not happening in another world but right now, in ours. Berger also knows when to stay and where to move on, which many other directors who work in this elevated cinema territory fail to do often. On a technical level, the film is just perfect and gorgeous, and the visual language only enhances the story. It never blocks its way.
Conclave Movie Review: The Last Word
When I saw Conclave last year, I knew it was the perfect candidate for an Academy Awards Nomination. The film just has it all: a good story, complex themes, terrific performances, and impressive technical values. Yes, it might be the “safest” of all the nominees for Best Picture, the most classic, but even so, the film stands on its own. It is just a very fine example of good filmmaking, and that should be celebrated.
Conclave Trailer
Conclave released on 7th February, 2025.
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For more recommendations, read our Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Review here.
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