Conclave (2024) (2024)
October 26, 2024 10:38 PM - Subscribe

After the unexpected death of the Pope, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with managing the covert and ancient ritual of electing a new one. Sequestered in the Vatican with the Catholic Church's most powerful leaders until the process is complete, Lawrence finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could lead to its downfall.

Most of you will be old enough to remember the seventies/eighties-style airport thriller. This is that thriller in film form. It's extremely DRAMATIC and deeply silly. In light of the silliness, you may find the final twist to be in questionable taste. I'm still not sure.
posted by praemunire (4 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I actually really want to watch this.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:12 AM on October 28 [1 favorite]


If you're in the mood for it, it could be enjoyable. I'm just not sure they intended it to be as campy as it ended up coming across to me. Fiennes, for instance, seems to be playing things very seriously.
posted by praemunire at 11:24 AM on October 28


I really enjoyed this. I love religion-as-courtroom-drama schadenfreude.

The reactions have truly been all over the place. My theater applauded at the end. I have another friend who saw it and said "this somehow healed religious trauma more than my therapist has".... My deeply Catholic mother loved it. On the other hand, I know people who are very offended by it for one reason or another.

Walking out, my first thought was I appreciated the comments/side eyes given in the writing. Many will not say they go far enough, to which I would argue this film contains about a millennia of progress for the Church, only they show it as happening in under a month.

I also appreciated the scene that took down fearmongering as an excuse to hate. I hope the people who really need to hear that message get to watch this film.

Having not read the book ahead of time, I admit I spent about 75% of the film thinking Fiennes's character had somehow murdered the Pope, and we were slowly going to learn it was him over the course of the film. Maybe it's because he plays a guilty Catholic way too well, but I wanted to yell HE DID IT from the first closeup of his eyes.
posted by haplesschild at 1:53 PM on October 28 [1 favorite]


i love stanley tucci so this is a no brainsr for me
posted by AlbertCalavicci at 3:44 PM on October 28 [1 favorite]


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