When it comes to Conclave, think Succession meets House of Cards meets Borgen but where the players are fighting to be Pope. I make the comparison because you don’t have to be religious to be engaged in the power struggle as a viewer so don’t write it off thinking it’s strictly Catholic business.
That said, for me Conclave didn’t live up to the trailer which made the film seem gripping. It isn’t the first film to suffer that fate and it sure won’t be the last but I was a bit disappointed. It’s not a bad film - it’s nominated for Best Motion Picture - Drama at the Golden Globes - but I was never on the edge of my seat, intrigued to see what happened next. There were twists and turns along the way but none were truly shocking until the one right at the end which felt so unlikely that it just left me thinking, ‘really?!’. No spoilers here!
Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow play some of the men in line for the top job and all are, predictably, excellent. Isabella Rossellini has a relatively small but significant role as a nun on the edges of this unique Catholic process and she too delivers a great performance
I know two others who have seen this - both church-going Catholics - and one felt about the same as me and the other really liked it. On balance, I’d say this falls into ‘can wait for it to pop up on a streaming service’ for me. Good but not quite as good as I hoped or the trailer implied.
Conclave runs 120 minutes, opens 9 January 2025 and is rated PG. Trailer here.