Just in time for the stretch run of the presidential election campaign comes the intriguing and beautifully acted but overwrought and pulpy Vatican mystery drama “Conclave,” which draws a myriad of parallels between the skullduggery of American politics and the Machiavellian strategies employed by various schemers and anglers during the selection of a new pope.
This is a prestige project through and through, with striking visual images provided by director Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”), and brilliant work by an all-star cast, but the twists and turns play out like a lesser-grade “Knives Out” movie mashed up with a middling episode of a network crime show, with an enormous and preachy reveal at the end that feels arbitrary, exploitative and unearned.
I’m reminded of the classic scene from “Seinfeld” where Jerry visits a Catholic priest to voice his concerns that a dentist has converted to Judaism “purely for the jokes.” When the priest says, “And this offends you as a Jewish person?” Jerry replies, “No, it offends me as a comedian!”
As a Catholic, I’m not offended by the depiction of a steady parade of egregious sins committed by a number of the so-called holy men in “Conclave”; after all, we know far too well about the horrific, real-life scandals perpetuated by priests and covered up by the hierarchy of the Church. I’m more troubled as a critic, as a viewer, who is asked to buy into an overstuffed plot that keeps peppering us with major and melodramatic plot swings.
With Peter Straughan (who did such an impressive job adapting John le Carré’s “Tinker, Tailer, Soldier Spy” in 2011) writing the screenplay based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Robert Harris, “Conclave” begins with Ralph Fiennes’ Cardinal Thomas Lawrence arriving at the Vatican just after the pope has passed away peacefully in his sleep. The level-headed and exemplary Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with overseeing the selection of a new pope, with the College of Cardinals gathering inside the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where the doors will remain locked until a two-thirds majority is reached, and the next pontiff has been elected.
A number of contenders are introduced. Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow) is a moderate who was close to the late pope and is a consummate politician and a seemingly safe choice, but the apparent front-runner is Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci), a liberal who wants the papacy to embrace a more modern approach to issues of sexuality, divorce, women’s rights and contraception. Also in the running are Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), a popular and forceful personality from Nigeria who could become the first Black pope, and the Italian Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), who has a larger-than-life personality and is a hardline conservative who wants to hit the reset button on more than a half-century of progress.
Further complicating the proceedings: the surprise arrival of one Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz), a dashing and mysterious figure whose very existence was kept secret because he was stationed in Kabul after stints in the Congo and Baghdad. (He’s like the Indiana Jones of cardinals.) There’s also looming unrest and the threat of terrorism just outside the Vatican. Oh, and the great Isabella Rossellini, channeling the spirit of her mother Ingrid Bergman in “The Bells of St. Mary’s,” is Sister Agnes, who has a showcase moment when she calls out the bickering and petty cardinals. The nuns will be silent and unseen no longer!
As the cardinals cast vote after vote in the Sistine Chapel (exquisitely re-created in a set built at Rome’s historic Cinecittà Studios), we learn of one illicit scandal after another, involving everything from financial malfeasance to the reveal of a decades-ago illicit affair to the discovery of secret writings to … well, even more outrageous developments.
The dialogue in “Conclave” often crackles with passion and precision, with these outstanding actors rattling the rafters with theatrical speeches. Despite the limitations of the locale, director Berger and cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine deliver some stunning visuals, e.g., a parade of cardinals marching like soldiers, their white umbrellas shielding them from the rain and the outside world. Fiennes bears the heaviest burden of the cast, and he comes through with one of the best performances of his career.
There is much to admire about “Conclave,” but in the end, all of its lofty aspirations come tumbling down due to that poorly constructed Jenga tower of a plot.