Once again our Editor was recently banished by his wife to sleeping in the spare room telling us that it was because he made some quip about the Pope. We did point out to him that it was a daft thing to have said to his wife when he knows she’s a Catholic to which he replied, ‘I know she is. I didn’t know the Pope was!’. He’s an idiot (‘You’re fired!’ – Ed). Novelist Robert Harris latest book adapted for the big screen is the papal thriller Conclave and has a starry cast led by Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence who has been landed with the task of putting together the conclave of the title to elect a successor to the recently deceased Pope.
With the gathering international Catholic candidates its all shrouded in secrecy and Lawrence is sincere and devout in his duties to carry out the protocol to elect a new Pope in the correct manner. His closest ally is Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci) a name that seems to have jostled with Cardinal Cappuccino, Cardinal Fettuccini and Cardinal Mama Mia for the most obvious nod to Italy. A liberal and progressive thinker Bellini believes that the church must move forward but is wholly uninterested in being elected as Pope but it’s a different story for many of the others gathered to the conclave. Cardinal Redesco (Sergio Castellirro) is a hard line traditionalist, the slithery Cardinal Tremblay (the latest in a long line of such roles for John Lithgow) , a Nigerian Cardinal Adeyami (Lucian Msamati) keen to be the first black Pope, and a leftfield candidate who appears from out of the blue appointed by the late Pope which no one knew anything about. And added to the starry cast is Isabella Adjani as a nun who, with only a handful of scenes, proves pivotal for at least one of the candidates.
They are all corralled by a self-doubting Lawrence himself having lost faith in the church rather than God and has to contend with the cardinals cunning chicanery to be appointed for the top job it is Bellini who warns him that, ‘the ones who are most dangerous are the ones who most want it’. Fiennes is sublime in the role and there is already rightly talk of award nominations for him.
As with many of Harris books this is something of a potboiler but its political posturing intertwined with several challenging modern day themes make Conclave an utterly absorbing thriller right up to the final moment which will divide audiences with its twist. Helmed by director Edward Berger, who proved so good with his remake of All Quiet on the Western Front, this is utterly compelling and Holy….wholly enjoyable.
related feature : When nuns attack! – living room goes berserk – The Conjuring 2 live experience
related feature : The Oscar nominated, ‘The Two Popes’ – REVIEW
Here’s the Conclave trailer …..
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