There is nothing quite like a well-made thriller.
A well-directed, nicely-acted and tightly-paced thriller is something that can appeal to just about anyone from the dog on the street to the most avid cinephile and Conclave is a perfect example of the kind of thriller we don’t get anymore.
Based on Robert Harris’ 2016 novel of the same name, Ralph Fiennes leads a great cast as the Catholic Church gathers to elect a new Pope.
2022’s All Quiet On The Western Front divided opinion – some say it’s a brilliant modern adaptation of a timeless classic, others think it totally misses the point of the original – but it did lead to director Edward Berger getting the call-up to direct this Oscar-tipped thriller.
It is incredibly easy to see why this film has been getting awards season buzz; it’s the kind of thriller movie that mama used to make.
Conclave is unapologetically straight down the middle in its pretensions and is an ode to the middlebrow populist cinema that Clint Eastwood and Brian De Palma used to make every other year.
It is a small miracle that a film like Conclave is getting a cinema release (the film plays brilliantly with a crowd, nothing beats seeing the guy in front of you lean forward in their seat), but this is the kind of film that is going to take on a life of its own once it hits streaming or gets frequent TV airings.
Conclave follows a rarely better Ralph Fiennes who has been tasked with leading a papal conclave following the death of the Pope.
Fiennes is tasked with keeping egos in check, digging into any potential skeletons in the candidates’ closets and helping determine what path the church goes in.
A terrific supporting cast includes Stanley Tucci as a liberal reformer who wants the church to carry on with a progressive bent (a bit like Pope Francis in real life), the always great John Lithgow as a pompous, self-serving moderate who is like Bishop Brennan in Father Ted, and Isabella Rossellini as the head caterer at the Vatican.
The film is stolen by relatively unknown (at least to Irish audiences) Italian actor Sergio Castellitto who plays an Italian candidate who thinks the Vatican should be run by a hardcore Italian traditionalist again.
The bald, snooty lawyer in Anatomy Of A Fall became a cult hero following the film’s release and we can see a similar fanbase forming around the vaping Italian cardinal.
At the centre of the film is Fiennes’ brilliant performance and it would be a major upset if he missed out on an Oscar nomination for this.
Fiennes has given any number of brilliant performances over the years – Quiz Show, Grand Budapest Hotel, In Bruges, Hail, Caesar!, the Daniel Craig-era Bond movies just to name a few – but his performance here ranks among his very best.
Fiennes is wonderful as a British cardinal who finds himself at the wheel and has to message any number of clashing egos and ideologies.
In the middle of it all, Fiennes finds himself wrestling with his own weight and beliefs which makes the drama that much richer.
Fiennes has always been an actor who can give you a glimpse into his mind simply by looking at him and we get a lot of prime cut stressed-out Fiennes here.
The film really sings when we see that Fiennes realises he’s the reluctant hero of the story and maybe realises that he should be Pope after all.
The joy of Conclave is that yes, it makes counting election ballots exciting, but it’s also the inherent campness of proceedings.
The film is a pretty reliable adaptation of the Robert Harris novel but the film amps up the reality show aspects of a papal election.
British screenwriter Peter Straughan is hit-and-miss – his peak as a writer is Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy but The Snowman and The Goldfinch were dreadful – yet Straughan manages to walk a very nice line between silly and tense with his script.
One scene where a candidate finds out they have been eliminated from the competition is written like how Davina McCall would eliminate a contestant on Big Brother.
Vaping Italian cardinals, big dramatic West Wing-style speeches about rejecting intolerance, and gossip being a vital currency in locked rooms are the order of the day in Conclave.
Every 15 or 20 minutes, Fiennes’ assistant (played by veteran Irish actor Brian F O’Byrne) wanders back into the film and tells him he has new juice or dirt on one of his rivals in the election race and you can see the gears whirring in Fiennes’ head.
The film is delightfully catty and it makes what should be a deathly boring affair – 100 men in a room arguing over who’s dad can beat up their dad in a fight – and spins it into gold.
Conclave takes all these disparate elements (a little bit of House Of Cards here, a dash of Drag Race there), and makes a winning dish.
Conclave is one of the most enjoyable films you will see this year and it says a lot about how much we took films like these for granted when they were being made every year
A film like Conclave would have been written off as populist trash 20 years ago, but in this age of Ryan Reynolds franchise dross and endless sequels it’s simply good to have an old-fashioned, don’t think too much popcorn film back in our local cinemas.
We are thankful that films like these are still getting released in cinemas because there is nothing quite like the communal “what the hell was that?” moment when the final twist is revealed.