Review: Conclave (2024)

Back in early March, we thought this Oscar also-ran would be going the way of many of its prestige predecessors after Anora and The Brutalist dominated Hollywood’s biggest night. But in the wake of Pope Francis’s shuffle off the mortal coil as images of JD Vance danced in his head, it’s finally become the movie of the moment. Regardless of one’s opinion on the demise of “The People’s Pope,” a 283% spike in Conclave viewers and dominance of the pop-culture conversation does much to warm the hearts of those who think the movies still matter. 

Though it fell far short of our 2024 best-of criteria, there’s much to admire in German director Edward Berger’s follow-up to his 2022 remake of All Quiet on the Western Front. Ralph Fiennes turns in another customarily consummate performance as Lawrence, the Dean of the College of Cardinals in charge of shepherding an unruly mass of holier (and holier than thou) Catholic emissaries. In their supporting turns as candidates for the church’s top job, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow each offer up distinct versions of the type of do-gooder progressivism that so irked some about the previous Pope. That the film’s impeccable production design and inventive use of colors avoids all trappings of theatrically is impressive enough, but Berger also manages to execute the whole affair as a fully captivating political thriller that never falters until its final moments.

And it's those penultimate scenes that betray Conclave’s adherence to authenticity and ritual as just mere window dressing on yet another piece of Oscar bait. In a movie with so much potential to grapple with individual faith and the church’s role in the modern world, Berger, in the end, shows fealty to the type of basic-b secular humanism that made Buzzfeed all the rage the last time the world awaited the smoke from that famous chimney. 

Ultimately, the film’s heroes are those who trust the process but gesture that they are above the spiritual, a failing that leads to an ending so inept that the movie had no business winning an Adapted Screenplay Oscar–much less being anywhere near the category. Conclave may provide some insight into the process that awaits the world’s Catholics in the coming weeks, but it says much more about the Obama Era hangover that led to Francis’s divisive reign in the first place, whether it intends to or not.

Conclave is now streaming on Prime.