The first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1: 15-25) describes the process used by the infant church to find a successor to Judas Iscariot, who will serve as a twelfth apostle and a witness to the resurrection. The small group gathers in the upper room, where the Last Supper had been celebrated, set out criteria for their choice, pray, and then cast lots. They interpret the outcome, “the lot fell on Matthias”, as an indication of the will of God.
The new film Conclave deals with an analogous process. A group of around 100 cardinals gathers in Rome’s Sistine Chapel to find a successor to an unnamed but roughly present-day Pope who has died suddenly in his sleep. Cardinal Lawrence (played by Ralph Fiennes) is charged with the role St Peter assumes in Acts, leading and guiding the deliberations. From that point forward, though, there is little similarity between this papal election and the early church’s process as outlined by St Luke. Beyond a few formal invocations, there is little evidence of prayerful reflection, and clearly none of the key players is prepared to leave the outcome to chance. The heart of the film lies in the schemings and manipulations going on behind the scenes between the rival factions and their representatives among the cardinals.
There is, perhaps, a touch of “central casting” about these representative figures. An arch-conservative, anxious to restore a Tridentine faith; a liberal in social matters, intolerant of any alternative viewpoint; an African, characterised initially by his opposition to homosexuality; and a personally ambitious prelate, using whatever means he can to secure his own election. As ringmaster in this circus, a position he repeatedly insists that he didn’t seek and doesn’t want, Cardinal Lawrence works hard to keep the factions in balance in the attempt to ensure a genuine discernment. At the same time, however, he is himself papabile, a possible successor to the dead Pontiff, who is in the course of the film brought to face squarely his own demons and ambitions.
It is its portrayal of the struggles endured by this group of manifestly flawed electors that lifts this film far beyond a cartoon battle between stock characters. It is clear almost from the outset that this conclave isn’t going to be a superficially edifying process engaged in by selfless, disinterested and saintly churchmen. This is unlikely to come as a surprise to a contemporary audience. But while at times being invited to despair over a Church (or at least its central bureaucracy) that goes about affairs in this fashion, a despair, it is suggested, shared by the former Pope, the director, Edward Berger, also portrays the resilience of a system that compels those involved in it to confront and take account of their own weaknesses. The film derives this outlook from the book that inspired it, by the thriller writer Robert Harris, and leads to a conclusion that, although somewhat sensational, will be seen by many as ultimately optimistic.
The main characters are uniformly excellent. Stanley Tucci plays Cardinal Bellini, the liberal front-runner, slowly and subtly revealing his intransigence. John Lithgow as Cardinal Tremblay disguises ruthless ambition with a bewildered innocence. In his role as the African Cardinal Adeyemi, Lucian Msamati offers a powerful display of what it is to be what readers of our online journal, Thinking Faith, may recognise as “a sinner yet called”. Cardinal Tedesco, the conservative’s figurehead, is played by Sergio Castellitto, delivering a key set-piece speech with force and bravura, a speech met with fierce meekness by Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz), a surprise late arrival at the conclave.
Nevertheless it is Ralph Fiennes, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, who stands at the centre of this film. With furrowed brow, staring frequently into the middle distance, he portrays a fallible man conscious of the great responsibilities he holds, while feeling for much of the time unequal to them. Yet he doggedly holds off more obviously forceful characters, faithful to the charge of the last Pope, his mentor, to be a manager even more than a shepherd. And while the conclave itself has revealed both the lights and the shadows of his personality, his desires and his dislikes, Fiennes holds something back, so that even in the closing scenes we are not sure of his inner responses to the surprises that are revealed.
This is necessarily, as many reviewers have remarked, a very male film. Women are not expected to appear among the college of cardinals, unless they are preparing the rooms or serving the meals, and even these are for the most part religious sisters. Isabella Rossellini, playing Sister Agnes, manages to steal her main scene however. Having, by speaking out of turn while supervising the dining room, destroyed the hopes of a leading candidate for the papacy, she drops him an obedient curtsey before turning on her heel and leaving the assembled cardinals in confusion.
It's worth mentioning, finally, the look for the film. It makes full use of its Vatican setting – the Sistine chapel, the baroque staircases, the faded grandeur of the cardinals’ accommodation. It also revels in the costumes, acres of scarlet and lace, and even of the weather, exterior brightness contrasted with the claustrophobic curtained interiors. Cardinals in cloisters snatching a hurried cigarette before they are locked up for another round of voting will appear familiar to anyone who mixes with clerics of a certain vintage.
Is this the kind of thing that really goes on at a conclave, how we came to be presented with Francis or how his successor will be determined? Who knows? For all the suggestions of leaks or insider information, conclaves are the epitome of secrecy. No doubt ambition, and the struggle to overcome it, play some part in proceedings. Yet it might not be naive to hope that prayer has a more central role than it is given here. However, as a gripping and mostly compassionate look at a group of elderly men on infrequent occasions asked to assume heavy responsibilities, as well as offering two hours of solid entertainment, Conclave has much to recommend it.
Banner photo by Benjamin Fay on Unsplash
