Jung and Film Online | Conclave

This film, based on Robert Harris’s 2016 thriller of the same title, centres on a British cardinal (a sensational Ralph Fiennes) and a campaign for a new pope. It is a battle for hearts, minds and power.

Conclave (2024) takes us inside an ancient, mysterious process that has inspired endless curiosity for hundreds of years: the assembly of Catholic cardinals to select a new Pope.

Ralph Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence, who, after the sudden death of the pope, must park his own religious doubts to wrangle the 113 cardinals who have descended on the Vatican. These men will be sequestered until they can elect one of their number as the new pontiff. Among them are the gentle progressive Bellini (Stanley Tucci) and smooth traditionalist Tremblay (John Lithgow). Both have secrets. But are they as lethal as those of their friends – and rivals? Isabella Rossellini is formidable as Sister Agnes, a nun who is supposed to be invisible but observes everything.

In this film, it is the universal humanity of the clergy, the ambition, the manipulation, the grand visions, the pettiness, the disagreements about faith vs. doubt, progress vs. tradition, “we” vs. “they” that resonate most deeply. “Even in the sequestered quarters, rumours, revelations, and events take the characters on a breathing Rubik’s Cube-style series of twists and turns. The final surprise may seem outrageous initially, but it is crafted to fit the story as satisfyingly as the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle.” (RogerEbert.com)